Portrait Paintings
Early 20th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil, Panel
1860s Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
Early 1900s Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 19th Century French School Portrait Paintings
Oil
Mid-19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
1970s American Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
19th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Street Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Ink, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Paper, Oil
Early 19th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
Late 20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Offset
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil, Masonite
1840s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
1940s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Late 20th Century American Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Illustration Board, Oil, Pen
19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1940s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1880s English School Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1930s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil Pastel
Mid-20th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
1960s Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
Early 20th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1890s American Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
18th Century Portrait Paintings
Wood Panel, Oil
19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
19th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s American Realist Portrait Paintings
Wood Panel, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1960s Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Mixed Media, Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Paper, Mixed Media
1940s Portrait Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Paper, Graphite
21st Century and Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Wood, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
20th Century Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1980s American Modern Portrait Paintings
Gold, Enamel
19th Century Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Oil
18th Century Renaissance Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Early 19th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
Late 19th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
19th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Early 20th Century Cubist Portrait Paintings
Plexiglass, Wood, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil Pastel, Paper, Watercolor
17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
Portrait Paintings for Sale on 1stDibs
An elegant and sophisticated decorative touch in any living space, portrait paintings have remained popular throughout the years and are widely loved pieces of art for display in many homes today.
Portrait paintings are at least as old as ancient Egypt, where realistic, lifelike depictions of the recently deceased — commonly known as “mummy portraits” — were painted on wooden panels and affixed to mummies as part of the burial tradition.
For centuries, painters have used portraiture as a means of expressing a subject’s nobility, societal status and authority. Portraits were given as gifts in Renaissance Europe, and a portrait artist might have been commissioned to help mark a significant occasion such as a wedding or a promotion to high office. Prior to the advent of photography, which eventually replaced painted portraits as a quicker and more efficient way of capturing a person’s essence, the subject of a portrait had to sit for hours until the painter had finished. And during the 18th century in particular, if an artist commissioned for a portrait struggled with how to adequately memorialize and capture a subject’s likeness, sometimes a portrait painting wasn’t completed for up to a year.
Whether it’s part of the gallery-style approach to your living-room or dining-room walls or merely inspiration as you devise an eye-grabbing color scheme in your home, a portrait painting is a timeless decorative object for any interior. A landscape painting or sculpture might give you the kind of insight into a specific region of the world or a different culture that you can ascertain only through art. Similarly, when you take the time to learn about the subject of a portrait painting that you bring into your home — the sitter’s history, the relationship between the sitter and the artist should one exist, the story of how the portrait came to be — that work can become intensely personal in addition to its place as an object for an art-hungry corner of your apartment or house.
On 1stDibs, visit a vast collection of famous portrait paintings or works by emerging artists. Search by medium to find the right portrait paintings for your home in oil paint, synthetic resin paint and more. Find portrait paintings in a variety of styles, too, including contemporary, Impressionist and Pop art, or search by artist to find unique works created by painters such as Mark Beard, Steve Kaufman and Montse Valdés.
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