Rare Books 1651 Year
17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
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20th Century European Louis XV Pedestals and Columns
Ormolu
20th Century French Floor Lamps
Crystal
Antique 1880s English High Victorian Chaise Longues
Upholstery, Walnut
Antique 15th Century and Earlier Italian Classical Roman Busts
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Victorian Taxidermy
Animal Skin
20th Century Japanese Mid-Century Modern Sculptures and Carvings
Bronze
18th Century Renaissance Portrait Paintings
Tempera, Panel
Antique 19th Century Russian Decorative Boxes
Silver
Vintage 1960s German Rococo Tea Sets
Gold
18th Century Old Masters Paintings
Oil
Antique 1860s English Victorian Chandeliers and Pendants
Silver Plate
19th Century Pre-Raphaelite Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
16th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Pen, Ink
1870s French School Figurative Paintings
Oil
Antique 19th Century French Louis XV Mantel Clocks
Bronze, Ormolu
Late 19th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood
Recent Sales
17th Century Academic Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
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.
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In Francks Deceus’s ‘Mumbo Jumbo #5,’ the Black Experience Is . . . Complicated
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Donald Martiny’s Jumbo Brushstrokes Magnify the Undeniable Personality of Paint
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Patrick Hughes’s 3D Painting Takes Us on a Magical Journey through Pop Art History
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Mid-Century Americans Didn’t Know Antonio Petruccelli’s Name, but They Sure Knew His Art
The New York artist created covers for the nation’s most illustrious magazines. Now, the originals are on display as fine art.
Learn Why There Have Been So Many Great Women Painters
Featuring iconic works by more than 300 female artists, a new book makes a more than compelling case for casting off the patriarchal handcuffs that have bound the art historical canon for far too long.