Classic Portrait Artists

To paint the people in your life is to immortalize them. One can argue that by creating it such a tangible depiction of those you love most, they become intangible - transitioning through generations as a nod to the past but celebrated and kept by those in the present. In this vein, the classic portrait will exist as long as the need to document and remember those around us does. From the timeless gaze of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503) to the Rembrandt van Rijn’s Portrait of an Oriental Nobleman (1632) the preservation of the subject through portraiture will continue to be depicted. The likes of Blanche Pierron and Edouard Morerod can be found within Artsper’s collections and they depict how classic portraiture remained a popular subject during the birth of modernism. The question then arises, who is depicted? Historically those who can afford it but then as seen from the 19th century and right up to the likes of Albert Chavaz, it becomes those who happen to encounter the artist in everyday life. With such a huge and non-exhaustive pool to choose from, those who are often depicted in the style of classic portraiture are also subjects of popular culture. As you meander through a sea of figures all equally deserving of immortalization, today you will also come across Sylvie Vanlerberghe and her depiction of well-known figures.