Portrait genre in the culture of different times and peoples

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Portrait is a genre of fine art that carries the unique features of a person. For a professional artist, an important point is to convey not only a visible resemblance to a living model, but also to reveal the individual inner world of a person, his soul. This is what distinguishes the portrait genre in the culture of different times.

Only an experienced portrait painter can express in his work the features of the character, the emotional state of the model, her mood at the moment. Important in the portrait are all the details - the appearance of the model, clothes, background environment, accessories. It is they that give the artist the opportunity to also show the social status of the person being portrayed and add colors to the historical time of that era.

Evolution of the portrait genre

Today, the fine arts have collected a huge collection of portrait images, including the legacy of many masters of the past and present, who displayed the portrait genre inculture of different times. The message conveyed by them in their works best of all paints a picture of the time in which the portrait painters lived and worked. Each era had its own ideals of beauty, different styles dominated, the requirements for a portrait image changed. In order to reflect, preserve and convey to posterity the image of the face, the artists used different materials. There are sculptural, graphic and pictorial portraits, which emphasizes the versatility that the portrait genre has in the culture of different times. Pictures depicting a human face could also be made in an unconventional way: in the form of a mosaic, embroidery, appliqué, etc.

The birth of a portrait

The first painted portraits date back to antiquity. Their ancestors can be considered the found Fayum portraits, named after their location (the Egyptian oasis of Fayum). The frescoes discovered during excavations in the ruins of a palace in Crete have safely conveyed to us the beautiful features of young women. Although the image was very schematic, these frescoes can be considered real "proto-portraits".

The first surviving portraits, which conveyed the individual features of a person, were the works of artists of Ancient Greece, Egypt and Rome, who managed to fully represent the portrait genre in the culture of different times. These portraits were sculptural and personified poets and thinkers, military leaders and rulers known at that time.

Ancient Greece

To the image of a personancient Greek masters turned to the archaic period. Archaic art is associated with the ideal of a man, beautiful in spirit and body. These are images of beautiful outwardly people, works completely devoid of portrait resemblance.

In the future, the images become more complex, the masters strive to create sharp-edged portraits. The era of Hellenism became a time of attention to a person, his emotions. Dynamism and expressiveness came to the sculpture. The created statues preserved the body of an ideal person, but strove for a portrait resemblance. Ancient sculptors sculpted mostly busts, but there were also full-length statues that were installed on pedestals. A huge number of sculptural portraits were created from various materials: marble, bronze, silver, gold, ivory.

Ancient Rome

The Romans combined the interests of the state with attention to the person, his individuality. Artists reflected on the rights and obligations of a person, on inner independence and craving for freedom. This determined the development of a true sculptural portrait. The Romans were depicted dressed in formal clothes - a toga, because the portrait was intended to glorify the nobility of the family. Early images convey the strength and steadfastness of character, which preserves the portrait genre in the culture of different times. The ancient custom of making death masks contributed to the development of Roman sculpture.

In the second half of the 2nd c. the Roman portrait reached the pinnacle of its development. Sculptors now began to pay attention not only to the resemblance to the model,but also to reveal her state of mind. This led to a change in the technique of depicting the eyes - inlay and coloring were replaced by plastic techniques. Portrait painters of that time strive for the most accurate transfer of character, the exposure of the most important personality traits.

Middle Ages: Jan van Eyck

The portrait became an independent genre of art during the Middle Ages. The Fleming Jan van Eyck was one of the first artists to establish the portrait genre in the culture of different times. The message left by him in each pictorial work has reached the descendants no worse than in the works of writers and poets. It was Jan van Eyck who made the portrait an independent genre. According to legend, he was also the author of the technique of oil painting. One of the first works of van Eyck was the painting of the Ghent altar. Among the characters there are also customers of the work - the so-called donors (donors), people who donated money for the improvement of the church. The tradition of including the faces of painting customers in religious compositions dates back to the Middle Ages. The artist does not just include the figures of donors in the composition of the works, but seeks to reveal their characters.

Renaissance

During the Renaissance, the portrait became the first independent pictorial genre. Appearing in the second quarter of the 15th century, it quickly became popular. The main task of the portrait was to reflect the personality of an outstanding contemporary. The artists depicted not pious and humble donors - their heroes were free persons, not only comprehensively gifted, but also capable of decisive actions.

Germany: Albrecht Dürer

The works of the painter and graphic artist have become a great contribution to the development of the portrait genre. Portraits of Dürer are distinguished by attention to the unique individuality of the model. Their heroes are energetic, smart, full of dignity, energy and strength. Dürer paid special attention to self-portraits, which was unusual for that time, sought to find individual features, what distinguishes one person from another.

Italy: Leonardo da Vinci

He was an excellent painter, graphic artist, inventor, scientist, engineer and even a musician. His "Mona Lisa" ("La Gioconda") is the most famous painting in the world. The landscape in this portrait is not just a background. Woman and nature merge into a single harmonious whole. The artist seems to be trying to show that the world of the human personality is as big and incomprehensible as the nature surrounding people. Leonardo da Vinci managed in his works to immortalize the portrait genre in the culture of different times and peoples.

Spain: Francisco Goya

Spanish artist Francisco Goya became famous as the author of portraits and highly social engravings. All his works are characterized by passionate emotionality and sharpness of characteristics. Goya liked to paint women - beautiful and not very beautiful, aristocrats and maids. Even becoming a favorite of the rulers, a court painter, Goya preferred to paint the urban poor.

England: Thomas Lawrence

The portrait was the highest achievement of English painting at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. Thomas Lawrence was the first English known portrait painter. Effective and virtuosicaccording to the technique of execution, the portraits of Lawrence bear the imprint of romantic sublimity. The artist paid great attention to the refinement of lines, the richness of colors, and the boldness of the stroke. Lawrence painted portraits of actresses and bankers, children and old people, young people and girls. He understood the depth and importance of such an issue as the portrait genre in the culture of different times. The album with reproductions of Lawrence's works was published as a separate book and sold in thousands of copies around the world.

France: Auguste Renoir

In the first decade of the XIX century. the main place in French painting was occupied by the disciples and followers of David. Their work echoed the desires of society during the reign of Napoleon. Classicism, which dominated in this period in art, was called "Empire" - the style of the empire. This "red line" style has permeated the genre of portraiture in the culture of different times.

Auguste Renoir could not imagine his canvases without a person, and a portrait - outside of a life situation. In the mid 1870s. the portrait became the main genre in Renoir's painting. In recent years, he began to work on the creation of children's portraits: he painted children in the interior, in nature. He accurately reproduced the porcelain skin of his young models, a clear and open look, silky hair, smart clothes. Renoir absolutely transformed and supplemented the portrait genre in the culture of different times. Photos of the works of this great master can be seen in many printed publications on culture and painting.

Russia

The portrait genre appeared in Russia later than inEurope (XVIII century) and was in many ways similar to an icon. The beginning of Russian portraiture is associated with the names of such artists as Nikitin, Matveev, Antropov, Argunov.

The master of portrait and genre painting was Vasily Andreevich Tropinin. In his works, he always gave a relaxed, but very true characterization of a person. Tropinin practically became the official portrait painter of Moscow.

Alexey Venetsianov is rightly called the founder of the domestic genre in Russian art. He created for the first time a gallery of peasant images - truthful, but not devoid of a certain amount of idealization and sentimentality.

Karl Pavlovich Bryullov painted a large number of ceremonial portraits imbued with a passion for the beauty of a person experiencing the joy of being. Among the best portraits of this time are "Horsewoman", portraits of Samoilova, Perovsky. Bryullov creates a special world of beauty, joy, a world of happy childhood.

New time

New time has brought a new attitude to art. It no longer had to decorate, it should not “be beautiful”. The portrait, which previously existed as if in two guises (commissioned and research), becomes more homogeneous. Now it is mainly a commercial genre, giving the artist a living, rather than the opportunity to express himself. Artists are now more likely to choose other genres to express themselves.

The Art Nouveau style, which appeared at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, brought back costumed and role-playing portraits. To reveal the character of the model, the artists chose expressivecostumes, interiors and even poses reminiscent of the 18th century. It was not a return to the past, a blind imitation, but a kind of game, serious and funny at the same time.

Conclusion

The portrait continues to exist to this day, however, now, as before in Europe, it is increasingly becoming a custom genre. Perhaps this is a natural stage of its development. However, continuing the traditions, it remains an important historical document that will carry the memory of our era to the descendants.