The Blue Boy Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough's The Blue Boy, portrays Jonathan Buttell, the son of a successful hardware merchant, who was a close friend of the artist. Portraits Portraiture is the art of representing the physical or psychological likeness of a real or imaginary individual. The principal portrait media are painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography.
Portraits present wide-ranging opportunities and challenges for artists.
A painter contemplating a subject, often a wealthy patron, must decide between the conflicting objectives of accurately representing or idealizing the subject. Portraiture artists could use their works to assert their social and material success as did Ingres and Reynolds, or focus instead on works revealing insightful self-awareness, for which Rembrandt is renown. Finally, portraiture artists face choices regarding composition, with commonplace bust depictions often giving way to full-length works such as those of Titian. Copyright 2000 Zoomify, Inc. and its licensors. All Rights Reserved.