Find the exact 18th century scottish portrait you’re shopping for in the variety available on 1stDibs. In our selection of items, you can find
Old Masters examples as well as a
contemporary version. If you’re looking for a 18th century scottish portrait from a specific time period, our collection is diverse and broad-ranging, and you’ll find at least one that dates back to the 18th Century while another version may have been produced as recently as the 21st Century. When looking for the right 18th century scottish portrait for your space, you can search on 1stDibs by color — popular works were created in bold and neutral palettes with elements of
black,
brown,
gray and
white. A 18th century scottish portrait from
Ian Sanderson,
Rose Freymuth-Frazier,
Sir Henry Raeburn,
William Anderson and
Paul Jeffay — each of whom created distinctive versions of this kind of work — is worth considering. Artworks like these — often created in
paint,
oil paint and
canvas — can elevate any room of your home. A large 18th century scottish portrait can prove too dominant for some spaces — a smaller 18th century scottish portrait, measuring 2.75 high and 4.14 wide, may better suit your needs.
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.