The portrait

It's not a secret that a portrait takes the special place in art and it is extremely popular. The word “portrait” comes from the French “portaire” and means “to image exactly”. The tradition to decorate a house with the images of nearest and dearest is very old. From the early times rich people invited the artists to paint the portraits of the household. The portrait is an independent genre which aim is to image the appearance of the person and to show the character and the inside world. To show the psychological condition of the model is the main problem of the portraitist.

The portrait painting counts history of several thousand of years. The carvings, murals of Ancient Egypt, statues of Ancient Greece tell about the desire to portray people. The blossoming of the genre happened in the Renaissance epoch. It is connected with the names of such masters as Titian and Charles de Moretti. The portrait techniques developed in the 18th century. Group portraits and oil painted portraits became popular. Rubens, Rembrandt, Poussin, Leonardo da Vinci, and Rafael were connected with that period.

Nowadays, when the photography is invented, the portrait painting doesn't take a back seat. Photography can't be compared with a portrait if we judge the atmosphere, expression and contents.