The European tradition of portraiture began to blossom during the fifteen hundreds. Later, during the fifteenth century the earliest Renaissance portraits were more inclined to religious depiction and often associated with the Biblical context rather than the depiction of powerful or influential people. At that time, again in a religious context, sculpture became more important. Portraiture remained a relatively unimportant tradition in most European cultures except in a religious context until the late Middle Ages. Although the earliest examples were also generic in form without clear personal likenesses being shown. In some cases donors to Religious causes were depicted in paintings and wall murals.

However, religious depiction of God and other well known Biblical characters remained, although also without specific likenesses. Portrait-like works were more generic, offering little in the way of personal likenesses. However, the tradition really became important during the Greek and Roman times when it was common to depict people in life-like poses in solid forms such as sculpture, metalwork, coins and ceramics.Дuring the Middle Ages portraiture declined. Often used as a means of representing power and influence, portraits have been found in many of the early civilisations notably the early Egyptian and Chinese cultures. Portraits are recorded in cave paintings, primitive and tribal art. The ancient art of portraiture is nearly as old as painting. While modern photographic portraiture has evolved to cover a very wide range of activities is essentially still based on classic concepts and in many cases classic poses. On the other extreme a whole branch of photography and portraiture leans toward very informal circumstances such as candid street photography and other forms of casual or free-time enactment for the camera. In a very real sense this has lead to a polarisation of the medium with the very formal aspects of portraiture leaning toward official and important events, paperwork and life changing events like births, marriage, death and passport controls. Modern photography has therefore extended the traditional concept of portraiture into the realms of bureaucracy and identity validation. However, this is essentially about heredity rather than practical identity checking. However, grand and expensive paintings and other forms of classic portraiture have always been used to impress and to make a statement about ones own status, as well as position in the family line. Portraits serve to remind people to whom they owe allegiance often they have a diplomatic function and frequently have served to validate positions of authority and protect against imposters. Accurate depiction of specific individuals has historically fulfilled a range of important functions. Since the Renaissance there has been an increasing emphasis on the accurate depiction of the features and overall appearance of the sitter. The cheap and widely available photographic medium has changed this over the last 150 years. In the vast majority of the population this means that the ordinary person has not had access to or been depicted in portraits until more recent times. Painting and sculpture both require extensive artistry and practical skills. Throughout history the making of a portrait has been a costly and often lengthy act. Modern portraiture is therefore about conveying a very real and intense sense of the sitters personality, and possibly their interests and personal environment. However, by extension modern portraits often include characterisation, personal context, possible relationships and often a connection with that persons life, lifestyle and work. The aim of modern photographic portraiture is to record the physical form and features of the portrait sitter. However, in more recent times, and especially since the Renaissance, portraiture has grown into a highly accurate representation of the individual. In its simplest form, the portrait is the depiction of an individual. By Netkonnexion on Flickr What is a portrait.

Portraiture art definition