Portrait Painting for Sale
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Anne-Marie with red ribbon in hair
Stephen Nadja
Painting - 59.4 x 42 x 3 cm Painting - 23.4 x 16.5 x 1.2 inch
$2,915
Casa Désirs Divins
Chrystèle Saint-Amaux
Painting - 20 x 20 x 1 cm Painting - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch
$277
Community II
Felix Treadwell
Painting - 182.2 x 121.5 x 2.54 cm Painting - 71.7 x 47.8 x 1 inch
$35,000
Body vs soul (grey)
Leikun Nahusenay
Painting - 100 x 75 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 29.5 x 1.2 inch
$3,363
Veracruz Dancer
Nicolas Sanchez
Painting - 76.2 x 101.6 x 3.8 cm Painting - 30 x 40 x 1.5 inch
$15,000
Les choses trop grandes
Nathan Chantob
Painting - 162 x 130 x 3 cm Painting - 63.8 x 51.2 x 1.2 inch
$16,817
Graphic - Kalinov
Stavri Kalinov
Painting - 73 x 53 x 0.5 cm Painting - 28.7 x 20.9 x 0.2 inch
$1,233
Vendeur de bouées avec ballon de Barcelone
Rosario Heins
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$8,969
Clair-obscur
Nicolas Fropo de Habart
Painting - 81 x 65 x 2 cm Painting - 31.9 x 25.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,682
La sagesse dans les branches
Amor de Agua
Painting - 120 x 108 cm Painting - 47.2 x 42.5 inch
$1,233
Twenty Shades of Sunlight
Carlos Gamez de Francisco
Painting - 140 x 64 x 2 cm Painting - 55.1 x 25.2 x 0.8 inch
$8,520
And the fool forgot his rank
Anatoliy Stankulov
Painting - 70 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$3,251
Vieil homme au Journal
Lino Umberto Salini
Painting - 71 x 50.5 x 0.5 cm Painting - 28 x 19.9 x 0.2 inch
$2,613
Girl with Pearl Earring (after Vermeer)
Peter Klashorst
Painting - 42 x 30 x 0.1 cm Painting - 16.5 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$308
Autoportrait et le bois
Carmen Selma
Painting - 92 x 73 x 2 cm Painting - 36.2 x 28.7 x 0.8 inch
$3,588
Eda
Isabelle Scheltjens
Painting - 180 x 144 x 3 cm Painting - 70.9 x 56.7 x 1.2 inch
$39,239 $35,315
Crying in the Rain
Corey Kilmartin
Painting - 122 x 92 x 4 cm Painting - 48 x 36.2 x 1.6 inch
$1,682
Plus sérieux qu'un Achevêque
Arnaud Bauville
Painting - 120 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 47.2 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$11,099
Shaman Woman
Heikki Länkinen
Painting - 41.5 x 29.5 x 0.5 cm Painting - 16.3 x 11.6 x 0.2 inch
$2,074
Entre elles - série Silhouette de femmes
Francine Cordier
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$1,469
Les bleus à l'âme 3
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 90 x 70 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,065 $959
La poupée celestial
Jaume Queralt
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$12,781
My Name Is Marylin
Jules Holland
Painting - 100 x 75 x 2.2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 29.5 x 0.9 inch
$5,045
THE ETERNAL FEMININE
SLAVENA BUNNY
Painting - 60 x 40 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$2,522
The indelible
Esther Barend
Painting - 170 x 110 x 4 cm Painting - 66.9 x 43.3 x 1.6 inch
$12,332 $11,099
Art is Life
Sara Chelou & Romane Joncoeur
Painting - 60 x 60 x 1 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.4 inch
$673
In blossom #4
Dasha Kandinsky
Painting - 130 x 130 x 2 cm Painting - 51.2 x 51.2 x 0.8 inch
$9,305 $8,375
Echelons of empowerment : purple panorama
Jimmy Yoshimura
Painting - 40 x 160 x 5 cm Painting - 15.7 x 63 x 2 inch
$4,484
Siento el calor de tus manos
Florencia Durán
Painting - 157 x 100 cm Painting - 61.8 x 39.4 inch
$1,794
It's Not Me, You’re Pathetic
Evelyn Morgan
Painting - 90 x 75 x 3 cm Painting - 35.4 x 29.5 x 1.2 inch
$1,989
Dua Lipa Portrait
Annabell Mozer
Painting - 42 x 29.7 x 3 cm Painting - 16.5 x 11.7 x 1.2 inch
$2,971 $2,674
Eye see you 1/3
Stephanie Larène
Painting - 78 x 106 x 1 cm Painting - 30.7 x 41.7 x 0.4 inch
$1,233
For the Love of Gala
Robert Walker
Painting - 86 x 51 x 4 cm Painting - 33.9 x 20.1 x 1.6 inch
$1,682
Marilyn Monroe II
Maria Trattner
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$3,756
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Portrait Painting for Sale
Portraiture is one of the most important subjects in painting. The discipline has changed significantly over time and has a fascinating history.
In antiquity, portraits were exclusively reserved for gods and the most influential people in society. Paintings and statues representing the bodies of the deceased were erected to decorate tombs in Egypt. They weren't realistic but rather had a very standardized way of representing each part of the body.
In contrast to the Egyptians, painters and sculptors in Greece, who had a more in depth knowledge of the human anatomy, were more concerned about realism. Many portrait paintings from this period were done on vases and depicted gods and mythological scenes.
In the Middle Ages, most portraits paintings were commissioned and featuring the most important people of the time; they were painted into religious scenes to emphasize their piety and faith, along with their social status. Once these works of art had been painted, they were often donated to churches and monasteries.
The Renaissance marked a renewal for the arts and portrait painting was no exception. At the beginning of this period, artists were unconcerned about lifelike, realistic work. Sitters or the subjects represented were identifiable through the use of symbolic objects and the inclusion of their name.
Giotto revolutionized portraiture by imitating sculpture. He began to paint shadows, the subjects' expressions, effects of depth and began to use foreshortening. His knowledge soon began to spread.
Brunelleschi then introduced the idea of perspective in architecture, a concept which Masaccio adapted to painting. Italy became the center of portrait painting and the most important Italian families (including the Médici family) commissioned artwork by the best painters. Competition between these painters led them to innovate and led them to produce some of the greatest artworks in history. The most famous is undoubtedly the Mona Lisa by Leonardo de Vinci.
In Northern Europe during the 16th century, Flemish art was restricted by iconoclasm during the Reformation, a period during the depiction of religious figures was banned. Artists turned to courtly art which was particularly popular during the following centuries. A century earlier, Flemish art had marked a turning point with Jan Van Eyck, the inventor of oil painting (the preferred painting technique of Renaissance painters) and master of detailed realism, who influenced an entire generation of Flemish painters.
Over the following centuries, portrait painting continued to be an art form for the elite of society, but painters grew increasingly concerned about depicting realistic figures and communicating the sitter's inner world and emotions. The 20th century saw a growing trend: subjects were not painted to look beautiful (sometimes to their great dismay).
At the end of the 19th century, Impressionist painters became less reliant on sculpted models and sculpture's influence. They left their studios and painted portraits outside, “en plein air." They captured the light as they saw it and painted groups of people together rather than in in several stages.
Modern and contemporary art of the 20th century saw anything go when it came to portraits. Artists like Gustav Klimt, Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin and Lucien Freud turned traditional techniques and codified rules on their heads and developed their own unique styles.
Discover portraits by Philippe Pasqua, Robert Combas, Guangyu Dai and Erró on Artsper.
A portrait painting is a painted artwork that depicts a person. A portrait painting usually depicts the upper body of a sitter, for example from the shoulders up.
A portrait can be created in various different art styles and forms, including sculpture, painting and drawing.
A portrait can be considered a good work of art for a variety of reasons, including its handling of light, tone and color, its likeness to the person it represents, or its expression of emotion.