Portrait Painting for Sale
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Pierre Alechinsky
Painting - 25 x 35 x 1 cm Painting - 9.8 x 13.8 x 0.4 inch
$12,303
Shoreditch II
Yoann Bonneville (YBA)
Painting - 100 x 81 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.9 x 0.8 inch
$2,237
Le soleil et la paix
Sergio Moscona
Painting - 63 x 23 x 2 cm Painting - 24.8 x 9.1 x 0.8 inch
$2,461
That Uncomfortable But Fabulous Chair
Evelyn Morgan
Painting - 90 x 75 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 29.5 x 0.8 inch
$1,986
Banksy Thrower - Keep it Real
Mr Brainwash
Painting - 55.9 x 55.9 cm Painting - 22 x 22 inch
$12,303
Letter Dancers 200
Mehdi Mirbagheri
Painting - 120 x 120 x 1 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0.4 inch
$6,711
Vide de sens - série personnages
Eric Stein
Painting - 70 x 70 x 4 cm Painting - 27.6 x 27.6 x 1.6 inch
$951
Avec ou sans - série personnages
Eric Stein
Painting - 70 x 70 x 4 cm Painting - 27.6 x 27.6 x 1.6 inch
$951
Deux - série personnages
Eric Stein
Painting - 70 x 70 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
$951
Seduction Series ADZ1
Roger König
Painting - 130 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 51.2 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$14,540
Les bleus à l'âme 2
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 100 x 81 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.9 x 0.8 inch
$1,063
Autoportrait 4
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 92 x 73 x 2 cm Painting - 36.2 x 28.7 x 0.8 inch
$2,237
Bébé de Kangourou
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 40 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$559
The First One Always Sticks
Zena Blackwell
Painting - 25 x 25 x 3 cm Painting - 9.8 x 9.8 x 1.2 inch
$728
The portrait of the malice aforethought
Vladimir Kolosov
Painting - 39.4 x 30.5 x 0 cm Painting - 15.5 x 12 x 0.01 inch
$580
Through clown's eyes
Vladimir Kolosov
Painting - 76.2 x 61 x 2 cm Painting - 30 x 24 x 0.8 inch
$850
Les livres de Colette
Martine Fauve Dechavanne
Painting - 120 x 120 x 2 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
$4,250
Le jeu de cartes acrylique
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 80 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,085
Self Portrait… aka Yella v2.6 Dream Within A Dream
LosOtros Mj Tom
Painting - 100 x 280 x 1 cm Painting - 39.4 x 110.2 x 0.4 inch
$3,579
Au meilleur d'elle-même
JM Robert
Painting - 100 x 100 x 4 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
$4,921
Dreams per cm3 - 5
Nora Ampova
Painting - 10 x 10 x 0.3 cm Painting - 3.9 x 3.9 x 0.1 inch
$268 $242
Dreams per cm3 - 2
Nora Ampova
Painting - 10 x 10 x 0.3 cm Painting - 3.9 x 3.9 x 0.1 inch
$201 $181
Dreams per cm3 - 1
Nora Ampova
Painting - 10 x 10 x 0.3 cm Painting - 3.9 x 3.9 x 0.1 inch
$201 $181
Better mercutio 9
Robert Langley
Painting - 182.9 x 147.3 x 0.3 cm Painting - 72 x 58 x 0.1 inch
$800
Better mercutio 7
Robert Langley
Painting - 182.9 x 121.9 x 0.3 cm Painting - 72 x 48 x 0.1 inch
$800
Noche y día / Night and Day
Luis Prada
Painting - 61 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 24 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,790
Droits de l'Homme
Raphaël Federici (ParisSketchCulture)
Painting - 100 x 100 x 34 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 13.4 inch
$8,053
Discover the styles & movements
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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.