Portrait Painting for Sale
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Retrato en fondo amarillo
Enrique Pichardo
Painting - 183 x 153 x 5 cm Painting - 72 x 60.2 x 2 inch
$5,584
Retrato en fondo rojo
Enrique Pichardo
Painting - 200 x 130 x 5 cm Painting - 78.7 x 51.2 x 2 inch
$5,186
The Eclectic
Nataliya Bagatskaya
Painting - 130 x 85 x 2.3 cm Painting - 51.2 x 33.5 x 0.9 inch
$2,135
Our Situation Shouldn't Define Us
Emmanuel Ojebola
Painting - 152.4 x 121.9 x 2.5 cm Painting - 60 x 48 x 1 inch
$5,600
Portrait de femmes exotiques
Brito Esteves
Painting - 52 x 102 x 4 cm Painting - 20.5 x 40.2 x 1.6 inch
$2,023
Les chagrin des Dieux - la fresque
Julie Ruelle
Painting - 100 x 195 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 76.8 x 1.2 inch
$8,989
The Lipstick Lady
Maria Trattner
Painting - 100 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$3,764
I Won't Die, I'll Live Forever
Dasha Pogodina
Painting - 94 x 94 x 2.5 cm Painting - 37 x 37 x 1 inch
$1,573
A Mysterious Horse - A tribute to the artist Uri Reisman
Menashe Kadishman
Painting - 80 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$3,700
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
Pennyfield Close
George Pinder
Painting - 100 x 80 x 4.8 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 1.9 inch
$4,596
Circé 2.0
Sylvie Julkowski-Egard
Painting - 162 x 114 x 2 cm Painting - 63.8 x 44.9 x 0.8 inch
$5,618
Subway passangers
Jean-Jacques Venturini
Painting - 50 x 61 x 3 cm Painting - 19.7 x 24 x 1.2 inch
$674
Jolies Dames
Martine Fauve Dechavanne
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$2,135
Essen 19., Mixed Media on Canvas
Jason Lincoln Jeffers
Painting - 76.2 x 61 x 3.8 cm Painting - 30 x 24 x 1.5 inch
$1,350
La tête à l'envers
Ghislaine Ferreira
Painting - 80 x 65 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 25.6 x 0.8 inch
$708
A delicious woman
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 80 x 60 x 1.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.6 inch
$2,247
Laugh at the same jokes
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 72 x 56 x 2.5 cm Painting - 28.3 x 22 x 1 inch
$2,247
Now the world is me
Gabriela Sroga
Painting - 90 x 90 x 0.5 cm Painting - 35.4 x 35.4 x 0.2 inch
$3,371
This too shall pass
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 80 x 60 x 2.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1 inch
$2,247
Signs from above
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 80 x 60 x 2.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1 inch
$1,348
Shaken, not stirred
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 100 x 70 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 1.2 inch
$2,247
In the things order
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 100 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$2,023
Double portrait
Mikhail Baranovskiy
Painting - 80 x 60 x 2.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1 inch
$1,124
Rare Lichtenstein Street Art Girl
Freda People Art
Painting - 105 x 105 x 0.3 cm Painting - 41.3 x 41.3 x 0.1 inch
$1,348
In chamomile-3
Vasyl Khodakivskyi
Painting - 80 x 90 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$4,607
Maud - Abstrait nu N°9
Aurélie Trabaud
Painting - 40 x 30 x 1 cm Painting - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$1,112
Matrioshka's familly
Fridouch'ka
Painting - 50 x 40 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$112 $101
Discover the styles & movements
Discover the selection of our experts
Diamant Noir
Sinden Collier
Photography - 51 x 41 x 0.1 cm Photography - 20.1 x 16.1 x 0 inch
$1,798
Passeur de brise
Pascal Billard
Sculpture - 78 x 45 x 30 cm Sculpture - 30.7 x 17.7 x 11.8 inch
$1,663
Circus Acrobats
Joanna Zakrzewska-Cholewa
Sculpture - 49 x 15 x 6 cm Sculpture - 19.3 x 5.9 x 2.4 inch
$1,797 $1,618
Babolex Snoop Dogg
Vincent Faudemer
Sculpture - 30 x 20 x 15 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 7.9 x 5.9 inch
$2,135
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.
What is meant by portrait painting?
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.
What art style is a portrait?
A portrait can be created in various different art styles and forms, including sculpture, painting and drawing.
What makes a good portrait?
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.