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Old Masters Portrait Photography

OLD MASTERS

Encompassing centuries of change in Europe between 1300 and 1800, from booms of prosperity to bloody revolutions, Old Masters describes a wide range of artists. The informal term was derived from the title of an artist who trained in a guild long enough to become a master, such as Leonardo da Vinci, who studied in a Florence painters’ guild. However, Old Masters paintings, prints and other art is now used to refer to work made by any artist with a high level of skill in painting, drawing, sculpture or printmaking who worked during this era.

The 15th century’s expansive trade and commerce spread culture across borders. A vibrant period of art emerged, bolstered by studies of anatomy and nature that influenced a new visual realism. From Raphael and Michelangelo in the Renaissance to Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer in the Dutch Golden Age, artists expressed emotion, naturalism, color and light in new ways. El Greco and Paolo Veronese were leaders in the dramatic style of Mannerism, while Caravaggio and Peter Paul Rubens demonstrated the movement and meticulous detail of Baroque art.

Historically, most attention was concentrated on male artists, but recent research and exhibitions have elevated the impactful work of women such as Rachel Ruysch and Artemisia Gentileschi. In late-18th-century France, female artists like Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun were prominent names. Nevertheless, access to the academies and guilds was highly restricted for women, and even those able to establish practices were expected to adhere to portraits and still lifes rather than the grand history paintings being created by men.

Find a collection of Old Masters prints, paintings, drawings and watercolors and other art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Old Masters
Rising Love, 2020 Mounted on dibond perspex face in white tray frame
Located in London, GB
Rising Love, 2020 Mounted on dibond perspex face in white tray frame 103 x 103 cm 40 1/2 x 40 1/2 in. Edition of 8 plus 2 artist's proofs (IVZ060) For Isabelle van Zeijl beauty is a...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

I Love Her, 2018 C-print mounted on dibond, perspex face in tray frame
Located in London, GB
I Love Her, 2018 C-print mounted on dibond, perspex face in tray frame NB: also available with non-reflective Plexiglass Framed: 113 x 103.1 cm 44 1/2 x 40 1/2 in Edition of 7 plus ...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

I Love Her II, 2019, C-Print mounted on Dibond, Perspex face in tray frame
Located in London, GB
C-print mounted on Dibond, Perspex face in tray frame Framed: 113 x 103.1 cm 44 1/2 x 40 1/2 in All editions available Edition of 7 plus 3 artist's proofs (#1/7) (IVZ021) Image 1/2 ...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Soil, 2021 C-print mounted in dibond perspex face in tray frame
Located in London, GB
Soil, 2021 C-print mounted in dibond perspex face in tray frame 113 x 103 cm 44 1/2 x 40 1/2 in. Edition of 8 plus 2 artist's proofs (IVZ061) For Isabelle van...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

She Is Here, 2019, C-print mounted on Dibond, Perspex face in tray frame
Located in London, GB
She Is Here, 2019 Featured on the cover of Snoeck magazine, issue on sale in September 2020. C-print mounted on Dibond, Perspex face in tray frame Framed: 113 x 102.9 cm 44 1/2 x 40...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

The New Me, 2019 C-print mounted on dibond, perspex face in tray frame
Located in London, GB
The New Me, 2019 C-print mounted on dibond, perspex face in tray frame Framed: 113 x 103.1 cm 44 1/2 x 40 1/2 in Edition of 7 plus 3 artist's proofs (IVZ035) For Isabelle van Zeij...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

She, 2014 C- Type Print, Dibond / Perspex face mounted in tray frame
Located in London, GB
She, 2014 C- Type Print, Dibond / Perspex face mounted in tray frame Framed: 113 x 103.1 cm 44 1/2 x 40 1/2 in Available editions: 7/7 AP1 AP2 AP3 Edition of ...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Old Master Influenced Photography - The Young Minstrel, Framed Archival Pigment
Located in London, GB
TAMI BAHAT The Young Minstrel, 2017 Framed Archival Pigment Print 22.5 x 18.7 cm 8 7/8 x 7 3/8 in. Edition of 10 (#1/10) ---- A deep love for imperfect beauty and the belief that a...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Old Master Influenced Photography - The Arrangement, Framed Archival Pigment
Located in London, GB
TAMI BAHAT The Arrangement, 2017 Framed Archival Pigment Print 35.6 x 25.4 cm 14 x 10 in. Edition of 10 (#1/10) ---- A deep love for imperfect beauty...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Old Master Influenced Photography - The Waterfowl, Framed Archival Pigment
Located in London, GB
TAMI BAHAT The Waterfowl, 2017 Framed Archival Pigment Print 25.4 x 35.6 cm 10 x 14 in. Edition of 10 (#2/10) ---- A deep love for imperfect beauty and the belief that art is in ev...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Isabelle Van Zeijl, I Am I, C-print mounted on dibond, perspex face
Located in London, GB
C-print mounted on dibond, perspex face in tray frame Framed: 113 x 103.1 cm 44 1/2 x 40 1/2 in Edition of 7 plus 3 artist's proofs (#2/7) --------------- For Isabelle van Zeijl...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print, Archival Pigment, Plexiglass

Photo of the Great Comedian - Original Photo by Ermete Novelli - 1887
Located in Roma, IT
Photo of the Great Comedian is an original work by Ermete Novelli. A wonderful photo on ivory-colored cardboard with autographed dedication. Signed in pen on the lower right. In ad...
Category

1880s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Classical Marble Bust in Profile
Located in Miami, FL
This is a photograph. The Mutted cool and warm greys with desaturated color hair accents update a familiar subject. Signed, dated, numbered lower right, recto 3/15, unframed, ot...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Inkjet

"Here", Santa Fe, 2011
Located in Hudson, NY
This lithograph print from Ron Hamad's second solo exhibit at Robin Rice Gallery shows a woman, partially nude. She seems to be unaware of the photographer and her bodies shape is s...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

Lithograph

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Battle for the Sun - Contemporary, Polaroid, Nude, 21st Century
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Untitled (Soldiers No. 2)
Located in New York, NY
Chromogenic print Signed and numbered, verso (Edition of 10) This photograph is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. About the artist: Born in 1970 in a suburb of Tel-Aviv...
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Early 2000s Old Masters Portrait Photography

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C Print

Untitled (from ROBOTNICS Series)
Located in Kansas City, MO
Christian Rothmann ROBOTNICS Series C-Print 2019 Edition S (Edition of 10) 12 x 8.3 inches (30.5 x 21 cm) Signed, dated and numbered verso Other Edition Sizes available: - Edition M (Edition of 6) 35.4 x 23.6 inches (90 x 60 cm) - Edition L (Edition of 6) 47.2 x 31.5 inches (120 x 80 cm) - Edition XL (Edition of 3) 88.8 x 58.8 inches (225 x 150 cm) PUR - Price Upon Request -------------- Since 1979 Christian Rothmann had more than 40 solo and 80 group exhibitions worldwide. Christian Rothmann had guest lectures, residencies, art fairs and biennials in Europe, Japan, USA, Australia and Korea. Christian Rothmann (born 1954 in Kędzierzyn, Poland ) is a painter, photographer, and graphic artist.⁠ ⁠ In 1976 he first studied at the “Hochschule für Gestaltung” in Offenbach, Germany and moved to Berlin in 1977, where he graduated in 1983 at the “Hochschule der Künste”. From 1983 to 1995 he taught at the university as a lecturer and as an artist with a focus on screenprinting and American art history. To date, a versatile body of work has been created, which includes not only paintings but also long-standing photo projects, videos, and public art.⁠ ⁠ Guest lectures, teaching assignments, scholarships and exhibitions regularly lead Rothmann to travel home and abroad.⁠ ------------------------ Rothmann's Robots These creatures date back to another era, and they connect the past and the future. They were found by Christian Rothmann, a Berlin artist, collector and traveler through time and the world: In shops in Germany and Japan, Israel and America, his keen eye picks out objects cast aside by previous generations, but which lend themselves to his own work. In a similar way, he came across a stash of historic toy robots of varied provenance collected by a Berlin gallery owner many years ago. Most of them were screwed and riveted together in the 1960s and 70s by Metal House, a Japanese company that still exists today. In systematically photographing these humanoids made of tin - and later plastic - Rothmann is paraphrasing the idea of appropriation art. Unknown names designed and made the toys, which some five decades on, Rothmann depicts and emblematizes in his extensive photo sequence. In their photographs of Selim Varol's vast toy collection, his German colleagues Daniel and Geo Fuchs captured both the stereotypical and individual in plastic figures that imitate superheroes which were and still are generally manufactured somewhere in Asia. Christian Rothmann looks his robots deep in their artificially stylized, painted or corrugated eyes - or more aptly, their eye slits - and although each has a certain degree of individuality, the little figures remain unknown to us; they project nothing and are not alter egos. Rothmann trains his lens on their faces and expressions, and thus, his portraits are born. Up extremely close, dust, dents, and rust become visible. In other words, what we see is time-traces of time that has passed since the figures were made, or during their period in a Berlin attic, and - considering that he robots date back to Rothmann's childhood - time lived by the photographer and recipients of his pictures. But unlike dolls, these mechanical robots bear no reference to the ideal of beauty at the time of their manufacture, and their features are in no way modeled on a concrete child's face. In this art project the robots appear as figures without a context, photographed face-on, cropped in front of a neutral background and reduced to their qualities of form. But beyond the reproduction and documentation a game with surfaces is going on; our view lingers on the outer skin of the object, or on the layer over it. The inside - which can be found beneath - is to an extent metaphysical, occurring inside the observer's mind. Only rarely is there anything to see behind the robot's helmet. When an occasional human face does peer out, it turns the figure into a robot-like protective casing for an astronaut of the future. If we really stop and think about modern toys, let's say those produced from the mid 20th century, when Disney and Marvel films were already stimulating a massive appetite for merchandising, the question must be: do such fantasy and hybrid creatures belong, does something like artificial intelligence already belong to the broader community of humans and animals? It is already a decade or two since the wave of Tamagotchis washed in from Japan, moved children to feed and entertain their newly born electronic chicks in the way they would a real pet, or to run the risk of seeing them die. It was a new form of artificial life, but the relationship between people and machines becomes problematic when the machines or humanoid robots have excellent fine motor skills and artificial intelligence and sensitivity on a par with, or even greater than that of humans. Luckily we have not reached that point yet, even if Hollywood adaptations would have us believe we are not far away. Rothmann's robots are initially sweet toys, and each toy is known to have a different effect on children and adults. They are conceived by (adult) designers as a means of translating or retelling history or reality through miniature animals, knights, and soldiers. In the case of monsters, mythical creatures, and robots, it is more about creating visions of the future and parallel worlds. Certainly, since the success of fantasy books and films such as Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, we see the potential for vast enthusiasm for such parallel worlds. Successful computer and online games such as World of Warcraft...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

La Divina Proporción, Franco Maria Ricci, Museo Nacional de San Carlos
Located in New York, NY
La Divina Proporción en la obra de Franco Maria Ricci, Museo Nacional de San Carlos. México, 2014. C-print 100 x 100 cm Edition of 5 120 x 120 cm Edition of...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Old Masters Portrait Photography

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C Print

A Million Dead End Streets (Stage of Consciousness) - featuring Radha Mitchell
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
A Million Dead End Streets (Stage of Consciousness) - 2007 40x40cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. ...
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Early 2000s Old Masters Portrait Photography

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Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Max - Oxana's 30th Birthday
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Max - Oxana's 30th Birthday (29 Palms, CA) - 2007 30x30cm, sold out Edition of 4, Artist Proof 2/2, Lambda Print, based on a Polaroid, Certificate and signed in front, artist Inven...
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Early 2000s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print, Photographic Paper, Color, Polaroid

Spheres (Chicks and Chicks and Sometimes Cocks)
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Spheres (Chicks and Chicks and Sometimes Cocks) - 2019 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Art...
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Early 2000s Old Masters Portrait Photography

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Untitled (from ROBOTNICS Series)
Located in Kansas City, MO
Christian Rothmann ROBOTNICS Series C-Print 2019 Edition S (Edition of 10) 12 x 8.3 inches (30.5 x 21 cm) Signed, dated and numbered verso Other Edition Sizes available: - Edition ...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Photo of the Great Comedian - Original Photo by Ermete Novelli - 1887
Located in Roma, IT
Photo of the Great Comedian is an original work by Ermete Novelli. A wonderful photo on ivory-colored cardboard with autographed dedication. Signed in pen on the lower right. In ad...
Category

1880s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

"Here", Santa Fe, 2011
Located in Hudson, NY
This lithograph print from Ron Hamad's second solo exhibit at Robin Rice Gallery shows a woman, partially nude. She seems to be unaware of the photographer and her bodies shape is s...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

Lithograph

Guitar girl - Polaroid, Black and White, Women, 21st Century, Nude
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Guitar girl - 2020 50x50cm, Edition of 7 plus 2 Artist Proofs, digital C-Print based on a Polaroid. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist inv...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Archival Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Previously Available Items
Couchsurfing Series - Florence Lightingale
Located in London, GB
Couchsurfing Series - Florence Lightingale, 2020 Signed certificate of authenticity included. Giclée Print on Hahnemühle Paper Anti-Reflective Museum Glass 42 x 60 cm (unframed) 16 ...
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2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

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Giclée, Digital

Isabelle Van Zeijl, I Am II, C-print mounted on dibond, perspex face
Located in London, GB
C-print mounted on Dibond, Perspex face in tray frame Framed: 113 x 103.1 cm 44 1/2 x 40 1/2 in Edition of 7 plus 3 artist's proofs (#4/7) --------------- For Isabelle van Zeijl...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print, Archival Pigment, Plexiglass

Isabelle Van Zeijl, She Is, C-print mounted on dibond, perspex face
Located in London, GB
C-print mounted on Dibond, Perspex face in tray frame Framed: 113 x 102.9 cm 44 1/2 x 40 1/2 in. Edition of 7 plus 3 artist's proofs (AP 1/3) --------------- For Isabelle van Zeijl...
Category

2010s Old Masters Portrait Photography

Materials

Plexiglass, C Print, Archival Pigment

Old Masters portrait photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Old Masters portrait photography available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Isabelle Van Zeijl, Tami Bahat, Cristina Schek, and Robert Funk. Frequently made by artists working with C Print, and Archival Pigment Print and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Old Masters portrait photography, so small editions measuring 7.37 inches across are also available. Prices for portrait photography made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $446 and tops out at $14,000, while the average work sells for $9,896.

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