Portrait painting is a genre in painting. The intent of the portrait is to depict the visual appearance of the subject. Historically portrait painting has memorized the rich and powerful, but over time also middle class patrons commissioned portraits of themselves or their family. Traditionally the portrait was painted, but today portraits are done in the new media such as video and digital.
A portrait is considered well done if it depicts not only the outer appearance of the subject, more or less idealized, but also the subject's inner character and/or social status. This of course leaves much up to the artist's interpretation. Aristotle was the first to express internalization as an ideal. He defined art as representing "not the outward appearance of things, but their inner significance" and Aristotle added that this was what "constitutes true reality". Aristotle's definition does not, however, help is separate "art" from caricature. Of course caricature depicts the subjects inner life by exaggerating the outer features, while art attempts to depict the inner while adhering strictly to the outer appearance. It is difficult to place modern art forms, such as a cubist portrait, within this simple dichotomy
Historically the portrait has been happy to simply reproduce the appearance of the subject. This resulted in an overproduction of formal and stiff portraits. As Charles Dickens started: "There are only two styles in portrait painting: the serious and the smirk." Smiles are generally banned from portraits because they look ridiculous and are frozen in time; so the smirk was the closest to a smile the artist would venture. Portraits have thus been rather stiff and the most common means of expression was the eyebrows. The result is that portraits always have closed mouths and open eyes, if not a stiff stare. The contemporary Danish master, Jan Esmann, did something new when he created a series of hyper-realist portraits with closed eyes and open mouths (see link below).
It usually requires several sittings to create a portrait and it takes considerable time. Today portrait painters use photos as a source and this cuts down or eliminates the need of the physical presence of the model. The average number of sittings is about four, but Cezanne, for example, required up to 100 sittings. Traditionally the artist would make several drawings and present the model with them so the model could select the most desirable. Sometimes the artist would finish the portrait from such a drawing without requiring further sittings.
Since the model was required to sit still repeatedly for several hours, it was considered part of the portrait painters craft to be able to keep up conversation while painting. Occasionally a sitter is not satisfied with the result. The artist is then obliged to retouch it or withdraw from the commission unpaid. The latter of course would incur humiliation. Some very famous artists have suffered the humiliation of rejection; Jaques-Louis David, for example, had his portrait of Madame Rcamier rejected. It was, however, widely celebrated at exhibitions.
A portrait is considered well done if it depicts not only the outer appearance of the subject, more or less idealized, but also the subject's inner character and/or social status. This of course leaves much up to the artist's interpretation. Aristotle was the first to express internalization as an ideal. He defined art as representing "not the outward appearance of things, but their inner significance" and Aristotle added that this was what "constitutes true reality". Aristotle's definition does not, however, help is separate "art" from caricature. Of course caricature depicts the subjects inner life by exaggerating the outer features, while art attempts to depict the inner while adhering strictly to the outer appearance. It is difficult to place modern art forms, such as a cubist portrait, within this simple dichotomy
Historically the portrait has been happy to simply reproduce the appearance of the subject. This resulted in an overproduction of formal and stiff portraits. As Charles Dickens started: "There are only two styles in portrait painting: the serious and the smirk." Smiles are generally banned from portraits because they look ridiculous and are frozen in time; so the smirk was the closest to a smile the artist would venture. Portraits have thus been rather stiff and the most common means of expression was the eyebrows. The result is that portraits always have closed mouths and open eyes, if not a stiff stare. The contemporary Danish master, Jan Esmann, did something new when he created a series of hyper-realist portraits with closed eyes and open mouths (see link below).
It usually requires several sittings to create a portrait and it takes considerable time. Today portrait painters use photos as a source and this cuts down or eliminates the need of the physical presence of the model. The average number of sittings is about four, but Cezanne, for example, required up to 100 sittings. Traditionally the artist would make several drawings and present the model with them so the model could select the most desirable. Sometimes the artist would finish the portrait from such a drawing without requiring further sittings.
Since the model was required to sit still repeatedly for several hours, it was considered part of the portrait painters craft to be able to keep up conversation while painting. Occasionally a sitter is not satisfied with the result. The artist is then obliged to retouch it or withdraw from the commission unpaid. The latter of course would incur humiliation. Some very famous artists have suffered the humiliation of rejection; Jaques-Louis David, for example, had his portrait of Madame Rcamier rejected. It was, however, widely celebrated at exhibitions.
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