Portrait is a genre of fine art that carries the unique features of a person. For a professional artist, an important point is to convey not only the apparent resemblance to a living model, but also to reveal the individual inner world of a person, his soul. This is what distinguishes the portrait genre in the culture of different times.
Only an experienced portrait painter can express the character traits, the emotional state of the model, her mood at the moment in the work. Important in the portrait are all the details - the appearance of the model, clothing, background environment, accessories. It is they that give the artist the opportunity to show the social status of the portrait and add color to the historical time of that era.
The evolution of the portrait genre
Today, fine art has collected a huge collection of portrait images, including the legacy of many masters of the past and present, displaying the portrait genre in the culture of different times. The message transmitted by them in their works best of all paints a picture of the time in which portrait painters lived and worked. In each era, its own ideals of beauty existed, different styles dominated, and the requirements for portraiture changed. In order to reflect, save and convey to the descendants the face image, the artists used different materials. Sculptural, graphic and pictorial portraits are distinguished, which emphasizes the versatility that the portrait genre has in the culture of different times. Pictures depicting a human face could also be made unconventionally: in the form of mosaics, embroidery, appliqués, etc.
The origin of the portrait
The first painted portraits are dated from ancient times. They can be considered the founders of the found Fayum portraits, named after their location (Egyptian oasis Fayyum). The murals discovered during excavations in the ruins of a palace in Crete, safely conveyed to us the beautiful features of young women. Although the image was very sketchy, these murals can be considered real "protoportraits."
The first surviving portraits on which individual traits of a person were conveyed were the works of artists of Ancient Greece, Egypt and Rome, who were able to fully represent the portrait genre in the culture of different times. These portraits were sculptural and personified the then-famous poets and thinkers, military leaders and rulers.
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greek masters turned to the image of a man in the archaic period. The art of archaic is connected with the ideal of a person who is beautiful in spirit and body. These are images of externally beautiful people, works that are completely devoid of portrait resemblance.
In the future, images become more complex, masters strive to create striking portraits. The era of Hellenism has become a time of attention to man, his emotions. Dynamism and expressiveness came to the sculpture. The created statues preserved the body of the ideal person, but strove for portrait resemblance. Antique sculptors sculpted mostly busts, but there were also full-length statues that were mounted on pedestals. A huge number of sculptural portraits were created from various materials: marble, bronze, silver, gold, ivory.
Ancient Rome
The interests of the state were combined among the Romans with attention to man, his personality. Artists reflected on the rights and obligations of man, on internal independence and the desire for freedom. This determined the development of a true sculptural portrait. The Romans were portrayed dressed in formal clothes - toga, because the portrait was designed to glorify the nobility of the family. Early images convey strength and perseverance of character, which preserves the portrait genre in the culture of different times. The development of Roman sculpture was promoted by the ancient custom of making posthumous masks.
In the second half of the 2nd century Roman portrait reached the pinnacle of its development. Sculptors now began to pay attention not only to the external resemblance to the model, but also to the disclosure of her state of mind. This led to a change in the technique of image of the eyes - inlays and coloring were replaced by plastic tricks. Portrait painters of that time strive for the most accurate transfer of character, exposure of the most important personality traits.
Middle Ages: Jan van Eyck
The portrait became an independent genre of art during the Middle Ages. The Flemish Jan van Eyck was one of the first artists to approve the portrait genre in the culture of different times. The message left by him in every painting work reached the descendants no worse than in the works of writers and poets. It was Jan van Eyck who made the portrait an independent genre. According to legend, he was also the author of the technique of oil painting. One of Van Eyck's first works was the painting of the Ghent Altar. Among the characters there are also customers - the so-called donors (donors), people who donated money for arranging the church. The tradition to include in the religious compositions the faces of the customers of the paintings existed in the Middle Ages. The artist does not just include the figures of donors in the composition of works, but seeks to reveal their characters.
Renaissance
In the Renaissance, portrait became the first independent painting genre. Appearing in the second quarter of the 15th century, it quickly became popular. The main task of the portrait was to reflect the personality of an outstanding contemporary. Artists depicted not pious and humble donors - their characters were free faces, not only fully gifted, but also capable of decisive actions.
Germany: Albrecht Durer
The work of the painter and graphic artist made a great contribution to the development of the portrait genre. Portraits of Dürer are distinguished by attention to the unique personality of the model. Their heroes are energetic, smart, full of dignity, energy and strength. Dürer gave special attention to self-portraits , which was unusual for that time, he sought to find individual traits, something that distinguishes one person from another.
Italy: Leonardo da Vinci
He was an excellent painter, graphic artist, inventor, scientist, engineer, and even musician. His "Mona Lisa" ("Mona Lisa") is the most famous painting in the world. The landscape in this portrait is not just a backdrop. Woman and nature merge into a single harmonious whole. It is as if the artist seeks to show that the world of the human person is as big and incomprehensible as the nature surrounding people. Leonardo da Vinci in his works managed to immortalize the portrait genre in the culture of different times and peoples.
Spain: Francisco Goya
The Spanish artist Francisco Goya became famous as the author of portraits and acutely social engravings. All his works are characterized by passionate emotionality and severity of characteristics. Goya loved to write women - beautiful and not very, aristocrats and maids. Even becoming a favorite of the rulers, a court painter, Goya preferred to paint the urban poor.
England: Thomas Lawrence
The portrait was the highest achievement of English painting at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. Thomas Lawrence was the first English famous portrait painter. Spectacular and virtuoso technique of execution portraits of Lawrence bear the imprint of a romantic hill. The artist paid great attention to the refinement of the lines, the richness of the color scheme, and the boldness of the stroke. Lawrence painted portraits of actresses and bankers, children and the elderly, young people and girls. He understood the depth and importance of such a question as the portrait genre in the culture of different times. An album with reproductions of Lawrence's works was published as a separate book and sold in thousands of copies around the world.
France: Auguste Renoir
In the first decade of the XIX century. the main place in French painting was occupied by the disciples and followers of David. Their work echoed the desires of society during the reign of Napoleon. Classicism, which prevailed during this period in art, called “Empire” - the style of the empire. This style of "red line" permeated the portrait genre in the culture of different times.
Auguste Renoir could not imagine his canvases without a man, and the portrait is out of life. In the mid 1870s. portrait became the main genre in Renoir painting. In recent years, he began working on the creation of children's portraits: he painted children in the interior, in nature. He accurately reproduced the porcelain skin of his young models, a clear and open look, silky hair, elegant clothes. Renoir absolutely transformed and complemented the portrait genre in the culture of different times. Photos of the works of this great master can be seen in many print publications on culture and painting.
Russia
The portrait genre in Russia appeared later than in Europe (XVIII century) and was in many ways similar to an icon. The beginning of Russian portraiture is associated with the names of artists such as Nikitin, Matveev, Antropov, Argunov.
The master of portraiture and genre painting was Vasily Andreyevich Tropinin. In his works, he always gave a laid-back, but very true characterization of man. Tropinin almost became the official portrait painter of Moscow.
Aleksei Venetsianov is rightly called the founder of the domestic genre in Russian art. He first created a gallery of peasant images - truthful, but not without some degree of idealization and sentimentality.
Karl Pavlovich Bryullov painted a large number of ceremonial portraits, imbued with a fascination with the beauty of a person experiencing the joy of life. Among the best portraits of this time are the "Horsewoman", portraits of Samoilova, Perovsky. Bryullov creates a special world of beauty, joy, a world of happy childhood.
New time
New time has brought a new attitude to art. It should not be decorating, should not be beautiful. A portrait that previously existed as if in two forms (commissioned and research) becomes more uniform. Now it is mainly a commercial genre that gives the artist a living, rather than an opportunity to express himself. For expression, masters now more often choose other genres.
Art Nouveau style, which appeared at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries., Returned costume and role portraits. To reveal the character of the model, the artists chose expressive costumes, interiors and even poses reminiscent of the 18th century. This was not a return to the past, a blind imitation, but a kind of game, serious and funny at the same time.
Output
The portrait continues to exist to this day, however, now, as before in Europe, it is increasingly becoming a custom genre. Perhaps this is a natural stage of its development. However, continuing the tradition, it remains an important historical document that will convey to the descendants the memory of our era.