Giacomo Moretti
Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
People Also Browsed
16th Century Old Masters Paintings
Oil
2010s Italian Other Chandeliers and Pendants
Blown Glass
20th Century Post-Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Antique Early 1900s Austrian Art Nouveau Busts
Terracotta
1970s Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Antique Early 1900s German Baroque Sterling Silver
Silver
Late 20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Art Glass
Late 20th Century Italian Industrial Chandeliers and Pendants
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Antique 19th Century German Neoclassical Revival Paintings
Giltwood, Canvas
17th Century Baroque Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1930s Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Canvas, Oil
17th Century Mannerist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 20th Century Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Giclée
Mid-20th Century Post-Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Oil
20th Century Desks and Writing Tables
Bronze
Finding the Right Portrait-paintings for You
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.