Portrait Painting for Sale
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Love is the shelter
Sara Denkenesh Bresolin
Painting - 50 x 70 x 1 cm Painting - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch
€1,263
L'amore più grande
Sara Denkenesh Bresolin
Painting - 50 x 70 x 1 cm Painting - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.4 inch
€1,263
Beneath the same sky
Sara Denkenesh Bresolin
Painting - 50 x 40 x 1 cm Painting - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
€1,110
Palomas Mensajeras de Paz
Simeon Gonzales
Painting - 150 x 120 x 0.5 cm Painting - 59.1 x 47.2 x 0.2 inch
€2,000
Sand clock CXXXVII
Daniel Cuadrado
Painting - 15.6 x 6.6 x 0.1 cm Painting - 6.1 x 2.6 x 0 inch
€1,130
Sand clock CVIII (Sand clock serie)
Daniel Cuadrado
Painting - 15.6 x 6.6 x 0.1 cm Painting - 6.1 x 2.6 x 0 inch
€1,130
The flower's soul
Zhivko Mutafchiev
Painting - 76 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 29.9 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
€2,200
Brigitte Bardot
Peter Donkersloot
Painting - 120 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 47.2 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
€4,250
Dream or Contemplate
Taha Bader
Painting - 120 x 100 x 4 cm Painting - 47.2 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
€1,210
Retrato de carnaval
Joana Frontera
Painting - 81 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 31.9 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
€1,500
Happiness is inside of you
Miyu Ai
Painting - 50 x 50 x 0.01 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
€1,234
Marilyn Monroe II
Peter Donkersloot
Painting - 120 x 100 x 4 cm Painting - 47.2 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
€2,450
Godfather III
Peter Donkersloot
Painting - 120 x 100 x 4 cm Painting - 47.2 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch
€2,450
Temperature reach critical level
Edvarda Braanaas
Painting - 55 x 45 x 3 cm Painting - 21.7 x 17.7 x 1.2 inch
€3,200
Pamela Anderson baywatch
Peter Donkersloot
Painting - 120 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 47.2 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
€4,250
La sieste
Luisa-Fernanda Debarnot
Painting - 65 x 50 x 1 cm Painting - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0.4 inch
€1,200
esprit embrumé
Jean-Louis Mendrisse
Painting - 60 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
€4,200
Suren Bogdanovich
Baptiste Laurent
Painting - 79 x 52 x 0.3 cm Painting - 31.1 x 20.5 x 0.1 inch
€1,200
Oleg Mikhailovich
Baptiste Laurent
Painting - 84 x 54 x 0.3 cm Painting - 33.1 x 21.3 x 0.1 inch
€1,200
Alexei Odintsov
Baptiste Laurent
Painting - 80 x 55 x 0.3 cm Painting - 31.5 x 21.7 x 0.1 inch
€1,350
One Day I Saw a Dream
Miyuki Takanashi
Painting - 23.7 x 22 x 3 cm Painting - 9.3 x 8.7 x 1.2 inch
€500
Robots build Robots
Stéphane Chauvin
Painting - 73 x 60 x 5 cm Painting - 28.7 x 23.6 x 2 inch
€1,100
Mlle L has Licence to Kill
Stéphane Chauvin
Painting - 60 x 73 x 5 cm Painting - 23.6 x 28.7 x 2 inch
€1,100
Little Black Surfer and Sixtine Chapel
Stéphane Chauvin
Painting - 60 x 73 x 5 cm Painting - 23.6 x 28.7 x 2 inch
€1,100
Red Portrait III
Ihar Barkhatkou
Painting - 200 x 140 x 3 cm Painting - 78.7 x 55.1 x 1.2 inch
€6,000
La guerre du feu 2
Thibault Franc
Painting - 100 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
€1,500
La guerre du feu 1
Thibault Franc
Painting - 100 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
€1,500
La petite fille aux cheveux bleus
Ninu Art
Painting - 76 x 58 x 2.5 cm Painting - 29.9 x 22.8 x 1 inch
€2,000
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.