A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. Mummy portraits or Fayum mummy portraits (also Faiyum mummy portraits) is the modern term for a type of realistic painted Portraits on wooden boards See Portrait for more about the general topic of portraits Portrait painting is a genre in Painting, where the intent is to Portrait photography (also known as portraiture) is the capture by means of Photography of the likeness of a person or a small group of people in which The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography a portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer, in order to most successfully engage the subject with the viewer.
Some of the earliest portraits of people who were not kings or emperors, are the funeral portraits that survived in the dry climate of Egypt's Fayum district. Mummy portraits or Fayum mummy portraits (also Faiyum mummy portraits) is the modern term for a type of realistic painted Portraits on wooden boards Faiyum ( Arabic: الفيوم Coptic:) is a city in Middle Egypt and the capital of the Faiyum Governorate. These are the only paintings of the Roman period that have survived, aside from frescos. Fresco (plural either frescos or frescoes) is any of several related Painting types done on Plaster on walls or
The art of the portrait flourished in Roman sculptures, where sitters demanded realistic portraits, even unflattering ones. During the 4th century, the portrait began to retreat in favor of an idealized symbol of what that person looked like. (Compare the portraits of Roman Emperors Constantine I and Theodosius I at their entries. Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (27 February ca. 272 &ndash 22 May 337 commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine Flavius Theodosius (January 11 347 – January 17 395 also called Theodosius I and Theodosius the Great ( Greek: Θεοδόσιος Α΄ ) In Europe true portraits of the outward appearance of individuals re-emerged in the late Middle Ages, in Burgundy and France.
One of the best-known portraits in the Western world is Leonardo da Vinci's painting titled Mona Lisa, which is a painting of an unidentified woman. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci ( April 15 1452 – May 2 1519 was an Italian Polymath, having been a scientist Mathematician, Engineer Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda) is a 16th century portrait painted in oil on a Poplar panel by The world's oldest known portrait was found in 2006 by a local pensioner, Gérard Jourdy, in the Vilhonneur grotto near Angoulême and is thought to be 27,000 years old. In common parlance a pensioner is a person who has retired, and now collects a Pension. [1]
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Self-portraiture
When the artist creates a portrait of him- or herself, it is called a self-portrait. Identifiable examples become numerous in the late Middle Ages, but if the definition is extended the first was by the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten's sculptor Bak, who carved a representation of himself and his wife Taheri c. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods Akhenaten (often alt: Akhnaten, or rarely Ikhnaton) (In English ˌɑkəˡnɑtən or approximately "AHK-en-AHT-en" his royal name Amenhotep 1365 BC. However, it seems likely that self-portraits go back to the earliest representational art, and literature records several classical examples, now lost. Cave paintings are Paintings on Cave walls and ceilings and the term is used especially for those dating to Prehistoric times
Portrait photography
Portrait photography is a popular commercial industry all over the world. Portrait photography (also known as portraiture) is the capture by means of Photography of the likeness of a person or a small group of people in which Many people enjoy having professionally made family portraits to hang in their homes, or special portraits to commemorate certain events, such as graduations or weddings.
Since the dawn of photography, people have made portraits. The popularity of the daguerreotype in the middle of the 19th century was due in large part to the demand for inexpensive portraiture. The daguerreotype (original French daguerréotype) is an early type of Photograph, developed by Louis Daguerre, in which the image is exposed directly Studios sprang up in cities around the world, some cranking out more than 500 plates a day. The style of these early works reflected the technical challenges associated with 30-second exposure times and the painterly aesthetic of the time. Painterly is a translation of the German term malerisch, one of the opposed categories popularized by Swiss Art historian Heinrich Wölfflin Subjects were generally seated against plain backgrounds and lit with the soft light of an overhead window and whatever else could be reflected with mirrors.
As photographic techniques developed, an intrepid group of photographers took their talents out of the studio and onto battlefields, across oceans and into remote wilderness. William Shew's Daguerreotype Saloon, Roger Fenton's Photographic Van and Mathew Brady's What-is-it? wagon set the standards for making portraits and other photographs in the field. William Shew (1820-1903 made a name for himself as a Daguerrotype portrait artist in the United States Roger Fenton ( March 20, 1819 - August 8, 1869) was a pioneering British photographer, one of the first war photographers Note that Mathew B Brady spelled his first name with only one "t"
Politics
In politics, portraits of the leader are often used as a symbol of the state. In most countries it is common protocol for a portrait of the head of state to appear in important government buildings. Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a Monarchic or Republican Nation-state Excessive use of a leader's portrait can be indicative of a personality cult. A cult of personality or personality cult arises when a country's leader uses Mass media to create a heroic public image through unquestioning flattery and praise
Literature
In literature the term portrait refers to a written description or analysis of a person or thing. In Literature, the term portrait refers to a written description or analysis of a person or thing Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter A written portrait often gives deep insight, and offers an analysis that goes far beyond the superficial. For example, American author Patricia Cornwell wrote a best-selling book titled Portrait of a Killer about the personality, background, and possible motivations of Jack the Ripper, as well as the media coverage of his murders, and the subsequent police investigation of his crimes. Patricia Cornwell (born Patricia Carroll Daniels June 9, 1956) is a contemporary American Crime writer. Portrait of a Killer - Jack the Ripper Case Closed (ISBN 0-425-19273-3 is a 2002 non-fiction book by crime novelist Jack the Ripper is an alias given to an unidentified Serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area and adjacent districts of London
See also
- Caricature
- Environmental portrait
- Head shot
- Hidden faces
- Hierarchy of genres
- Painting the Century 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900-2000
- Portrait painting
- Self-portrait
- The Portrait Now
- The Portrait of a Lady, a novel published in 1881 and a film in 1996
References
- ^ Cave face 'the oldest portrait on record'. A caricature is either a Portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness or in literature a description An environmental portrait is a Portrait executed in the subject's usual environment such as in their home or workplace and typically illuminates the subject's life and surroundings A headshot is a photographic technique where the focus of the Photograph is a person's face Hidden Faces was a television Soap opera that aired on NBC 's daytime schedule from December 30 1968, to June 27 1969 A hierarchy of genres is any formalization which ranks different types of Genres in an art-form in terms of their value See Portrait for more about the general topic of portraits Portrait painting is a genre in Painting, where the intent is to A Self-portrait is a representation of an artist drawn painted photographed or sculpted by the artist The Portrait Now was a major international overview of contemporary portraiture held in 1993-1994 at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The Portrait of a Lady The Times (5 June 2006). Events 70 - Titus and his Roman Legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Retrieved on 2008-01-04. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 46 BC - Titus Labienus defeats Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina.
External links
- National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution
- National Portrait Gallery London
- Painting The Century 101 Portrait Masterpieces
- Jeanne Ivy's Self-Portrait Page - What Artists Find When They Search in the Mirror.
- Portrait Detectives - Fun interactive introduction to the analysis of portraiture.
- Reportret - A gallery of reconstructions of missing portraits from world history.
Dictionary
portrait
-noun
- A painting or other picture of a person, especially the head and shoulders.
- (figuratively) An accurate depiction of a mood.
-noun
- (computing, printing): a print mode or selection specifying the rectangle to be printed on having the vertical sides longer than the horizontal sides.
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