PortraitsA Historical Look

Portraits

• Portraits are nearly always commissioned, and the sitter agrees the format with the painter

• The relation of the figure to the scale of life is important. From the 16th century, the most formal portraits show the figures life-size, or larger.

• Most portrait formats have been established for a long period of time. Some of the categories listed here become blurred in the 19th and 20th centuries.

A Portrait by: Diego Velazquez (1599-1660), Spain

• Philip IV in Brown and Silver1631-32

• Oil on canvas, 200 x 113 cm

• National Gallery, London

State Portraits• A State Portrait is a portrait of status, depicting the sitter’s

office or social position rather than individual character.

• Early state portraits were the preserve of rulers and high dignitaries. By the 17th century, however, most members of the aristocracy and some rich commoners commissioned state portraits of themselves and their kin. From the 16th century, this most formal of the portrait categories is associated with the full-length format on the scale of life or larger. Equestrian portraits are a particularly grand form of state portrait, orginally indebted to ancient Roman statuary.

Equestrian Portrait of Charles I, Anthony Van Dyck, 1638

Seated Three-Quarter Length

• Three-quarter and half-length formats preserve the scale of life of the state portrait within a smaller painted area. In the seated three-quarter length portrait the figure of the sitter typically forms a pyramid, with the head at the apex (top point) and the knees seemingly closer to the viewer.

Raphael’s Pope Julius II, 1511-1512 • He is the model for

many later portraits of clerics.

• It is itself a “close-up” version of a full length papal likeness in fresco. The sense of physical and psychological closeness of the sitter is an important feature of these portraits

Portrait of a Girl, Ghirlandaio, 1490• Bust-length portraits show at

least the head and shoulders, and occasionally a hand. The exact extent varies.

• Early Italian portraits were made in profile, in imitation of antique coins and medals.

• In the course of the 15th century, Italian artists adopted the three-quarter or frontal view of the face. They were influenced in this both by contemporary Netherland portraits and by the revival of the sculptural portrait bust, first evolved in antiquity.

Donor Portraits• The term “donor portraits” is

misleading. The term originates from the custom of patrons donating an altarpiece to church which has their portrait included in it, as participating in the act of prayer.

• Not all so-called donor portraits, however, are painted onto donated altarpieces. The term now includes all portraits of individuals or groups painted venerating holy personages within the same frame or on an accompanying picture.

• (note the donors kneeling at the base of the cross on either side of the painting)

Massaccio, The Holy Trinity, 1428. Fresco, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Self Portraits

• Artists’ self-portraits vary from the near-anonymous use of the reflection as a method from which to work out different approaches to portraiture, to the more self-conscious presentation of a public image. Throughout his life Rembrandt painted and etched self portraits. Those he executed in his final years are among the most poignant, but also the most challenging.

Rembrandt Portraits• At age 34 - At age 63

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Later PortraitureSELF PORTRAITParis, end of 1901.Oil on canvasMusee Picasso, Paris

Picasso was only 23 years old when he paintedthis blue period self-portrait. He presents himselfas a romantic, bohemian figure – a moody youngArtist who fixes the viewer with an almost hypnoticstare.

Max Beckman, (1884-1950)

Self Portrait with Horn, 1938

Oil on Canvas, 110 x 101cmDr. and Mrs.

Stephan LacknerSanta Barbara,

California

References• http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fineartprintsondemand.com/

artists/raphael/pope_julius_ii-400.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fineartprintsondemand.com/artists/raphael/pope_julius_ii.htm&h=400&w=297&sz=41&tbnid=i2qzbeJNLuP1qM:&tbnh=261&tbnw=193&prev=/images%3Fq%3DRaphael%25E2%2580%2599s%2BPope%2BJulius%2BII&zoom=1&q=Raphael’s+Pope+Julius+II&usg=__tZn1DGSfbqcZtbTJswoEBxJilqg=&sa=X&ei=XKCWTLX4PMOlnQe4ybjOBw&ved=0CBsQ9QEwAA

• http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/upload/img/rembrandt-self-portrait-age-63-NG221-fm.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/rembrandt-self-portrait-at-the-age-of-63&h=371&w=301&sz=33&tbnid=FoQQ6W7hQfIofM:&tbnh=249&tbnw=202&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drembrandt%2Bat%2Bage%2B63%2Bportrait&zoom=1&q=rembrandt+at+age+63+portrait&hl=en&usg=__8uAsgKqR9z_K8DzHbuQ3hqvEr4Y=&sa=X&ei=YqWWTIKnDc2gnQfA6NDqCA&ved=0CBgQ9QEwAA