Portrait Paintings
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Spray Paint, Acrylic
Early 1900s Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1840s American Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas
Mid-20th Century English School Portrait Paintings
Oil
Early 20th Century Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1970s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Pop Art Portrait Paintings
Gesso, Paper, Glue, Mixed Media, Oil, Spray Paint, Acrylic, Stretcher Bars
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
Late 20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
Late 19th Century English School Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Late 19th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
18th Century Rococo Portrait Paintings
Oil
18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Copper
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Panel
Artist Comments
In this black and white portrait, artist Mark Cudd captures the quiet intensity of a suited man, his gaze fixed directly on the viewer. Referenced from a vintag...
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Linen, Oil
20th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Permanent Marker
2010s Academic Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Ink, Archival Paper, Charcoal, Gouache, Acrylic
18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
1920s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1970s Fauvist Portrait Paintings
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Late 19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
Late 19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
Mid-19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1630s Flemish School Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
1920s Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Early 20th Century Other Art Style Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Minimalist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Cubist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Panel
Late 18th Century Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1880s Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil Pastel, Acrylic, Archival Paper
1860s Naturalistic Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century American Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
17th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
Late 20th Century Cubist Portrait Paintings
Watercolor
Early 17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1920s Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
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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