Portraits as Art
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, portraiture is, “a representation or delineation of a person, especially of the face, made by life, by drawing, painting, photographing, engraving… a likeness.” However, this simplistic definition disregards the complexities of portraiture. Portraits are works of art that engage with ideas of identity as they are perceived, represented, and understood in different times and places, rather than simply aim to represent a likeness. These concepts of identity can encompass social hierarchy, gender, age, profession, and the character of the subject, among other things. Rather than being fixed, these features are expressive of the expectations and circumstances of the time when the portrait was made. It is impossible to reproduce the aspects of identity; it is only possible to evoke or suggest them. Consequently, even though portraits represent individuals, it is generally conventional or typical – rather than unique – qualities of subject that are stressed by the artist. Portrait art has also undergone significant shifts in artistic convention and practice. Despite the fact that the majority of portraits portray the subject matter in some amount of verisimilitude, (an appearance of being true or real), they are still the outcome of prevailing artistic fashions and favored styles, techniques, and media. Therefore, portrait art is a vast art category which provides a wide range of engagements with social, psychological, and artistic practices and expectations.
Since portraits are distinct from other genres or art categories in the ways they are produced, the nature of what they represent, and how they function as objects of use and display, they are worthy of separate study. First, during their production, portraits require the presence of a specific person, or an image of the individual to be represented, in almost all cases. In the majority of instances，the production of portraiture has necessitated sittings, which result in interaction between the subject(s) and artist throughout the creation of the work. If the sitter is of high social standing or is occupied and unavailable to sit in the studio regularly, portraitists could use photographs or sketches of their subject. In Europe, during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the sitting time was sometimes decreased by focusing solely on the head and using professional drapery painters to finish the painting. For instance, Sir Peter Lily, the English artist, had a collection of poses in a pattern book that enabled him to focus on the head and require fewer sittings from his aristocratic patrons. Portrait painters could be asked to present the likeness of individuals who were deceased. In this sort of instance, photographs or prints of the subject could be reproduced. Theoretically, portraitists could work from impressions or memories when creating a painting, but this is a rare occurrence according to documented records. Nonetheless, whether the work is based on model sittings, copying a photograph or sketch, or using memory, the process of painting a portrait is closely linked with the implicit or explicit attendance of the model.
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