Portrait

[[Image:VanGogh 1887 Selbstbildnis.jpg|thumb|right|230px|''Self-portrait'' by Vincent Van Gogh]] A portrait is a painting, photograph, or other artistic representation of a person. Portraits are often simple ''head shots'' or ''mug shots'' and are not usually overly elaborate or creative. The intent is to show the basic appearance of the person, and occasionally some artistic insight into his or her personality. 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.) In Europe true portraits of the outward appearance of individuals re-emerged in the late Middle Ages, in Burgundy and France. One of best-known portraits in the Western world is Leonardo da Vinci's painting entitled ''Mona Lisa'', which is a painting of an unidentified woman. 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 (''illustration, left''). These are the only paintings of the Roman period that have survived, aside from frescos. [[Image:NicholasHilliard.jpg|left|thumb|Self-portrait by Nicholas Hilliard, 1575, one of the earliest known]] When the artist creates a portrait of himself, it is called a self-portrait. The first known in paint was by the France artist Jean Fouquet in c. 1450,[http://www.abcgallery.com/F/fouquet/fouquet3.html] but if the definition is extended the first was by the Egyptian Pharoah Akhenaten's sculptor Bak, who carved a representation of himself and his wife Taheri c. 1365 BC. However, it seems likely that self-portraits go back to the Cave painting. Portrait photography is a popular commercial industry all over the world. Many people enjoy having professionally made ''family portraits'' to hang in their house, 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. 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. 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. 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. Excessive use of a leader's portrait can be indicative of a personality cult. In literature the term ''portrait'' refers to a written description or analysis of a person or thing. 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. The term ''portrait'' is also applied to the orientation of a rectangular page, painting or other graphic, denoting that the long axis is vertical. When the long axis is horizontal, it is said to be in landscape mode. ==Related articles== * Hierarchy of genres * The Portrait Now * ''The Portrait of a Lady'', a novel published in 1881 and a film in 1996 ==External links== * [http://www.npg.si.edu/ National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian] * [http://www.npg.org.uk/ National Portrait Gallery London] * [http://www.research.umbc.edu/~ivy/selfportrait/ Jeanne Ivy's Self-Portrait Page] - ''What Artists Find When They Search in the Mirror''. * [http://browse.deviantart.com/digitalart/paintings/portraits/?view=1&order=5&limit=100 Portraits by young artists at DeviantArt.com] - Portraits as an expression in an on-line community of artists. * [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nof/portraits/ Portrait Detectives] - Fun interactive introduction to the analysis of portraiture. * [http://zonezero.com/magazine/essays/diegotime/time.html Diego Goldberg's family portraits, 1976-2002] - ''On June 17th, every year, the family goes through a private ritual: we photograph ourselves to stop a fleeting moment, the arrow of time passing by.'' * [http://illustmaker.abi-station.com/index_en.shtml Portrait Illustration Maker] - To create a customised portrait online for personal or business use. Art genres Painting Photography by genre

Portrait

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/photodraw/portraits/

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Words begining with Portrait:

Portrait
Portrait
Portraitist
Portraits
Portraits
Portraits_from_the_Dibner_Library_of_the_History_of_Science_and_Technology
Portraits_from_the_Dibner_Library_of_the_History_of_Science_and_Technology
Portraits_in_Hogwarts
Portraits_in_Hogwarts
Portraits_of_Past
Portraiture
Portraiture_and_Biographies
Portrait_(album)
Portrait_(album)
Portrait_de_l'artiste_sans_barbe
Portrait_de_l'artiste_sans_barbe
Portrait_elisha_gray.jpeg
Portrait_Gallery
Portrait_Gallery
Portrait_Gallery_of_Canada
Portrait_in_Jazz
Portrait_miniature
Portrait_miniatures
Portrait_Of_An_American_Family
Portrait_of_an_American_Family
Portrait_of_an_American_Family
Portrait_of_Arthur_Konig.jpeg
Portrait_of_a_Killer
Portrait_of_a_Lady
Portrait_of_Charles_Crowle_by_Pompeo_Batoni.jpeg
Portrait_of_Doctor_Gachet
Portrait_of_Dr._Gachet
Portrait_of_Dr._Gachet
Portrait_of_Dr_Gachet
Portrait_of_Jaco,_the_Early_Years
Portrait_of_Jennie
Portrait_of_Lozana
Portrait_of_Lozana:_The_Lusty_Andalusian_Woman
Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man
Portrait_painter
Portrait_Records