Allegorical Portrait Portrait of Cardinal Antoine The Courtauld Collection of Sir John Luttrell, 1550. Perrenot de Granvelle, 1576. Hans Eworth Scipione (il Gaetano) Pulzone PORTRAITURE TIMELINEN Portraits become rich in Artists draw on a rich palette of symbols. They sometimes colours deriving from minerals make references to classical and organic matter, such as the mythology or they might cochineal beetles dried and include emblems that relate to crushed to make the vibrant red the sitter’s family identity. This in this portrait. The likeness is allegorical portrait uses pictorial painted on copper, but wood elements to represent complex panel, and increasingly canvas, ideas. The female figure holding are more common in the 1500s. an olive branch stands for peace.

Portrait of a Lady, 1536. Cameria, daughter of Family of Jan Brueghel Master A.W. Suleiman the Magnificent, as the Elder, 1613–15. Saint Catherine, circa 1560. Peter Paul Rubens Portraits made in the early 1500s Workshop of Titian emphasise the sitters’ clothing Rubens initiates more inventive and attributes. Oil paints are In Venice, Titian and his and life-like approaches to used to capture the rich silks followers model forms without group portraiture. His portraits and velvets of court outfits. hard edges, focusing on of families and couples often sumptuous colours and textures. show a comfortable intimacy. Flemish and German painters The city’s position on the water Rubens’ courtly manners and pioneer three-quarter and partly explains the interest in diplomatic skills gain him full-length portraits. atmospheric lighting effects. influential international patrons. Mannerism (1520–1600) sees The social status of the artist the development of more advances considerably. varied poses and gestures in portraiture.

1500 1600

RENAISSANCE PORTRAITS 1400–1550 Portraiture emerges as an independent genre of painting. This BAROQUE PORTRAITS 1600–1710 The Baroque style begins as a means to inject greater drama era also sees the rise of the artist’s self-portrait. The development of portraiture is supported by new Humanist and emotion into religious works (countering the Protestant belief that art distracts from worship). philosophy that teaches that the proper study of mankind is man. Artists study classical sculpture and look Elements of theatre enter into portraiture, such as columns, arches and draped fabrics. Artists often employ directly at nature in order to depict three-dimensional form and produce realistic effects of light and shade. chiaroscuro effects (strong contrasts of light and shadow). In turbulent religious times, the portrait emerges as one of the most secure ways for an artist to earn a living. Royals and nobles amass great art collections and the new merchant classes seek to record their achievements.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT 1517 Martin Luther initiates 1531 Church of England breaks the planets revolve around 1564 Michelangelo dies. His 1588 The Spanish Armada 1501 Safavid dynasty and the Protestant Reformation in away from Rome with Henry VIII the sun. Beginning of the plans for St. Peter’s Basilica, fails to invade England. empire begins in Iran. Islamic Germany. as its head. Scientific Revolution. Rome, are completed in 1590. culture flourishes. 1618–1648 Thirty Years War. 1519–1521 Hernán Cortés 1533 Hans Holbein paints 1557 Portuguese settle in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII issues This begins as a conflict Macau in China, leading to 1503–1506 Leonardo da Vinci leads the conquest of The Ambassadors. the Gregorian calendar, which is between Catholic and a new era of trade between paints the Mona Lisa. Mexico. East and West. still used today. Protestant European states. 1543 Copernicus explains how Over 8 million people die. Portrait of a Man in an Portrait of a Woman, Family Group, 1756. Armchair, 1616–18. circa 1645. Peter Lely Follower of Arthur Devis Anthony van Dyck Peter Lely moves to London Informal group portraits in Like his teacher Rubens, van from Holland in 1643 to work domestic or landscape settings Dyck travels in Italy and sees at the court of Charles I. He become popular in the 18th portraits by Titian. He moves perseveres through the Civil century. Although called from Antwerp to London in Wars and the Interregnum to ‘conversation pieces’, the figures 1632 and changes the course eventually work for Charles are typically in static poses, of English portraiture. He is II. He is best known for gazing out at the viewer. Such considered unrivalled in his painting beautiful women of portraits are intended to show a ability to flatter and glorify the Restoration court in their family’s elegant and fashionable patrons luxurious and revealing silk tastes. Devis, William Hogarth dresses. and Johan Zoffany popularise this type of portrait in Britain.

Old woman with a large Philippe, Regent, Duke Georgiana, Lady Greville, head-dress, circa 1630–40. of Orléans, on horseback, 1771–72. Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn 1711–31. George Romney Charles Parrocel Building on the work of Britain’s elite enter a new era of Rubens, Rembrandt brings Royals across Europe continue prosperity and see portraiture new psychological depth to to use portraiture as tool for as an essential affirmation portraiture. His sketches and political propaganda. Official of their status and success. self-portraits show startling images are often given as gifts Romney is one of the most directness and honesty of between European courts or celebrated portrait painters of the 18th century. His rival Sir observation. His The Night reproduced as prints for wider Joshua Reynolds teaches that Watch (1642, Rijksmuseum) circulation. The Duke of Orléans recasts the traditional group is shown in this equestrian the human figure is the highest portrait as a moment of action portrait as a confident and subject for art, but the artist and spectacle, and on a colossal commanding leader. must idealise any imperfections. scale.

1700

AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT 1680–1820 Thought in the ‘long 18th century’ is dominated by the ROCOCO PORTRAITS 1715–1760 The Rococo style evolves as a reaction to the formality and idea that humans must use their capacity for reason in order to understand the world and achieve grandeur of the Baroque style. Following the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the Regent, Philippe progress. Enlightenment philosophy questions the authority of absolute monarchy and the Duke of Orléans, ushers in a new era of pleasure and relaxation (he governs France until Louis Catholic Church, advocating scientific law and natural order over ritual and superstition. The goals XV comes of age in 1723). of rational humanity are the advancement of knowledge, liberty and religious tolerance. Portraits in Britain and France become lighter in mood and colour palette. Contemporary fashions, interiors and gardens often play important roles in portrait compositions.

1619 The Dutch import the first wins independence from Spain. 1666 The Great Fire of London. 1707 Unification of the United is fought among European African slaves to Virginia. 1700 Dissolution of the Kingdom. powers. 1649 Charles I is executed 1682 Louis XIV moves the French Habsburg Empire in Spain. 1620 The Pilgrim Fathers following the English Civil court into the Palace of Versailles. 1712 First steam engine invented. 1757 The Battle of Plassey travel to America. Wars. Parliament rules (the 1704 Isaac Newton’s influential The Industrial Revolution soon signals the beginning of formal Interregnum). 1683 The Ottoman Turks are work Opticks on light and follows. British rule in India. 1648 Dutch Republic is established 1660 Charles II is restored defeated at Vienna, marking a colour is published. after this area of the Netherlands to the English throne. steep decline in their empire. 1756–1763 The Seven Years’ War 1768 Founding of the Royal Portrait of Don Francisco de Portrait of a girl, 1830–35. Self-Portrait with Bandaged Saavedra, 1798. William Henry Hunt Ear, 1889. Francisco de Goya y Lucientes Vincent van Gogh Social changes: Between 1801 Portraits by the Spanish artist and 1901, Britain’s population Van Gogh’s famous portraits and Goya show creative variations on booms from 10.5 to 38.3 million self-portraits are often described the full-length ‘status’ portrait. people. By 1850 more than half as Post-Impressionist (1885– In this image, a politician is of the population live in urban 1910). Although influenced by perched at his desk, deep in areas and Britain is at the heart the Impressionists, his palette thought but also prepared to of a vast global empire. Artists’ is much brighter and his brush rise and assume a more active personal drawings can help stokes are more decorative. role. The simple setting appears to build a broader and more Energetic and colourful marks to show the influence of English diverse picture of society. convey emotion. portraiture.

Portrait of the actor La Loge, 1874. Young Woman powdering T.P. Cooke, 1826. Pierre-Auguste Renoir Herself, 1888–90. Horace Vernet Georges Seurat As photographic portrait With the growth of the middle studios become widespread, A more scientific approach to classes in the 19th century, commissions for painted painting and colour is founded more people have the financial portraits decline. Instead, by Seurat in the mid-1880s. His means to commission a portrait. Impressionist artists select technique, known as Pointillism, Small drawings and paintings sitters who interest them and involves composing the image offer more attainable options sell the artworks speculatively out of hundreds of tiny dots of than life-size works. Celebrity through dealers. The personal pure colour. The artist relies on likenesses are reproduced in identity and status of the sitter the eye and mind of the viewer printed form and sold at modest matter less than the broader to mix the colours optically. prices. experiences of humanity and modern life that they represent.

1800

NEOCLASSICISM 1760–1820 Excavations of the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS The 19th century sees the invention of multiple new colours, spark a fashion for all things classical. Portrait artists might idealise a sitter’s features or pose them including cobalt blue, cadmium yellow and zinc white. Synthetic pigments are used to make in a way that resembles Greek or Roman sculpture. brighter and more affordable pre-mixed oil paints. • 1830s The first commercially viable methods of photography are pioneered in France. ROMANTICISM 1780–1850 Artists and writers come to see the rationalism of the Enlightenment • 1841 American painter John Rand invents the collapsible paint tube, making the business and Neoclassicism as restrictive. Romantic portraits tend to stress individual intellect and of painting out-of-doors much more practical. experience over shared customs and identity.

Academy of Arts in London. win freedom from Britain. 1807 Britain abolishes the first electric motor. 1859 Charles Darwin publishes Empire is created. transatlantic slave trade. On the origin of species. 1769–1771 Captain Cook’s first 1787 Freed slaves from 1830 World’s first public 1874 First Impressionist voyage. He explores the coasts London establish Sierra 1815 Britain and the Prussians railway between Liverpool 1861–1865 Civil War in U.S.A. exhibition, Paris. of Australia and New Zealand. Leone. defeat the French at the Battle and Manchester. of Waterloo. 1870–1871 1885 Alexander Graham 1775–1783 American war of 1789–1799 French 1840 Introduction of the French defeated in the Franco- Bell founds the American Independence. The 13 colonies Revolution. 1821 Michael Faraday builds the standard Penny Post. Prussian War; the German Telephone and Telegraph Company. Female Nude, circa 1916. Young Woman in a White Head and Shoulders, 1982. Amedeo Modigliani Blouse, circa 1923. Lucian Freud Chaïm Soutine Modigliani modernises figurative Freud’s portraits are often painting, but his nudes are Portraits by Soutine show the anonymous, but typically depict highly controversial when first influence of Van Gogh and Paul family members and friends. His exhibited in Paris in 1917. His Cézanne in the way they focus models have to undergo intense depictions of women go against on humble sitters and convey scrutiny over long sittings. In the the European tradition of a strong sense of inner life 1950s the tones and textures of idealising the female body. The through the application of the flesh take on a new importance elongated faces of the women paint itself. Soutine exaggerates in his works. He records every relate to Egyptian, African and and stretches the features of the line and wrinkle with unflinching Oceanic sculpture, which he sitter that are of most interest honesty in thick impasto paint studied at the ethnographic to him. or using hatched lines in the museum in Paris. case of his etched portraits, such Self-portrait, 1962. as this image. Oskar Kokoschka Figure and vase of flowers, Austrian artist Kokoschka is with palm tree in the associated with a broad cultural background, 1923. movement called Expressionism, Henri Matisse which develops in Germany Matisse begins his career as a just before and after WWI and leader of the short-lived Fauvist spreads throughout Europe. movement (1905–1910). Fauvist Artists employ distorted forms portraits show a seemingly wild and riotous colour in order to use of colour. Partly inspired by convey emotional and even Japanese art, Matisse simplifies spiritual states of being. As forms, flattens space and brings his peers embrace abstraction out patterns in both his printed in the 1940s and 1950s, and painted portraits. Kokoschka continues to make portraits, finding new ways to articulate the sitter’s psyche and personality.

1900

IMPRESSIONIST PORTRAITS 1870s–1910 A group of artists in Paris start to hold their own shows NEW DIRECTIONS In the early decades of the 20th century, a new generation challenges in 1874, having found their work rejected time and time again by the Salon (the official exhibition modes of representation that go back to the Renaissance. Cubism rejects one-point of the French Academy). Impressionist paintings focus on the sensations of light and colour. Artists perspective in favour of multiple viewpoints, while Surrealism takes art into the realms of work from life and build up the painted surface with loose and rapid brush strokes. Portraits reflect dreams and the subconscious. As more abstract styles of art develop in the middle of the wider interests in capturing modern life. Popular settings include cafes, theatres and parks around century, fewer portraits are produced. In the 1960s, American Pop Art sees a return of the Paris. genre, albeit in a highly commercial form. English portrait painters revive realistic approaches, but render the psychological presence of the sitter with a new, raw physicality.

1907 Birth of the modern 1917 Russian Revolution, 1929 Wall Street Crash, followed 1947–1991 Cold War; human into space. 1998 First Apple iMac computer. plastics era comes with the ending in the overthrow by the Great Depression. decades of tension between invention of Bakelite. of the Tsarist regime and Capitalist and Communist 1973 First handheld mobile phone. establishment of the first 1939–1945 Second World War. world powers. 1911 First non-stop commercial Communist state. 1960s New official policies to 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall. flight from London to Paris. 1945 Allied forces drop atomic protect the environment. 1926 John Logie Baird bombs on Hiroshima and 1990s–early 2000s Rise of public 1914–1918 First World War. demonstrates the first TV. Nagasaki 1961 U.S.S.R. sends the first internet.