Portrait Painting for Sale
Save your search and find it in your favorites
Save your search to find it quickly
Saved search
Your search is accessible from the favorites tab > My favorite searches
Unsaved search
A problem occurred
Mujer y mirada
José Ramón Lozano
Painting - 146 x 162 x 3 cm Painting - 57.5 x 63.8 x 1.2 inch
$8,503
Lift me up - pop love Wonder Woman & Superman
Antonella Castrovillari
Painting - 60 x 90 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$455
Autoportrait au pinceau
Carmen Selma
Painting - 73 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 28.7 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$2,377
Autoportrait face au rideau
Carmen Selma
Painting - 73 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 28.7 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$2,377
Mona Lisa Dream Blue (La Joconde)
Marie KVK
Painting - 80 x 60 x 4 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.6 inch
$2,956
Feel the blue II
Ritchelly Oliveira
Painting - 123 x 98 x 4 cm Painting - 48.4 x 38.6 x 1.6 inch
$12,050
What we get in return
Adewuyi Theophilus
Painting - 91.4 x 61 x 2.5 cm Painting - 36 x 24 x 1 inch
$2,000
Model in Margiela
Manuel Santelices
Painting - 40.6 x 30.5 x 0.3 cm Painting - 16 x 12 x 0.1 inch
$700
Children dreams flight
Ivan Russev
Painting - 44 x 54 x 2 cm Painting - 17.3 x 21.3 x 0.8 inch
$1,751
In a circle around you
Aliénor de Montalivet
Painting - 61 x 45 x 2 cm Painting - 24 x 17.7 x 0.8 inch
$2,615
Sensible Ruin
Aliénor de Montalivet
Painting - 76 x 61 x 4 cm Painting - 29.9 x 24 x 1.6 inch
$2,997
Les Pieds dans les nuages
Francine Van Hove
Painting - 89 x 116 cm Painting - 35 x 45.7 inch
$26,487
Terribly Ending Play
Dumisani Karamanski
Painting - 150 x 180 x 3 cm Painting - 59.1 x 70.9 x 1.2 inch
$5,002
Autoportrait face au rideau
Carmen Selma
Painting - 73 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 28.7 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$8,305
Le rouge nous va mieux au teint
Béatrice Terra
Painting - 73 x 92 x 2 cm Painting - 28.7 x 36.2 x 0.8 inch
$2,842
On ne choisit pas sa famille
Béatrice Terra
Painting - 92 x 73 x 2 cm Painting - 36.2 x 28.7 x 0.8 inch
$2,842
Time collapsed. Still life with two rhinos.
Vladimir Kolosov
Painting - 121.9 x 91.4 x 1.9 cm Painting - 48 x 36 x 0.75 inch
$1,830
05.04.23-Boyshood
Simon Kroug
Painting - 48.5 x 66.5 x 0.02 cm Painting - 19.1 x 26.2 x 0 inch
$1,106
Retrato en fondo amarillo
Enrique Pichardo
Painting - 183 x 153 x 5 cm Painting - 72 x 60.2 x 2 inch
$5,649
Retrato en fondo rojo
Enrique Pichardo
Painting - 200 x 130 x 5 cm Painting - 78.7 x 51.2 x 2 inch
$5,246
Homme sous la lampe
Pascal Marlin
Painting - 100 x 81 x 2.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.9 x 1 inch
$2,274
Circé 2.0
Sylvie Julkowski-Egard
Painting - 162 x 114 x 2 cm Painting - 63.8 x 44.9 x 0.8 inch
$5,684
Teach us to love ourselves
Oluwafemi Afolabi
Painting - 121.9 x 91.4 x 2.5 cm Painting - 48 x 36 x 1 inch
$2,800
Portrait PS 221 L'endormie Immobile perle de bleux (Large)
Bazévian Delacapucinière
Painting - 55 x 55 x 3.5 cm Painting - 21.7 x 21.7 x 1.4 inch
$2,000
You May Be Lucky
Oluwafemi Afolabi
Painting - 121.9 x 91.4 x 2.5 cm Painting - 48 x 36 x 1 inch
$3,200
The Eclectic
Nataliya Bagatskaya
Painting - 130 x 85 x 2.3 cm Painting - 51.2 x 33.5 x 0.9 inch
$2,160
Pennyfield Close
George Pinder
Painting - 100 x 80 x 4.8 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 1.9 inch
$4,649
Le couple de danseur
Christof Monnin
Painting - 100 x 100 x 2.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1 inch
$1,705
Unity of opposites
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 70 x 100 x 2.5 cm Painting - 27.6 x 39.4 x 1 inch
$3,638
25th frame
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 100 x 70 x 1.5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.6 inch
$2,274
Intricacies
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 80 x 60 x 1.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.6 inch
$1,933
At one's fingertips
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 70 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 27.6 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$2,046
A delicious woman
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 80 x 60 x 1.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.6 inch
$2,274
Discover the styles & movements
Discover the selection of our experts
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.