What would you say a portrait is?

What would you say a portrait is?


A painting or photograph of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant.- i googled this btw.





or somthing else?





Opinions and ideas please :)





xx



The definition you've given is the bald truth but a portrait is so much more (or should be).





A portrait should have the ability to reveal the person's personality - in the past they were used to demostrate status through their clothing, accessories or props and setting. Think of the portraits of Gainsorough for example, or those of Tissot (both of which dealt with sitters who were wealthy), then compare them to some of Van Gogh's potato pickers' portraits which deal with the very poorest in society.





I love portraits as you can look directly into the eyes of someone who lived before and possibly learn something of the prevailing attitudes of society at the time.




All commissioned portraits are exercises in vanity. If the expression is the most important part of that particular work, then I'd wonder what the sitter or the artist was wanting to tell us and what he/she was trying to hide from us.




A portrait is an interpretation of a person.




a good portrait should equally give an insight into the character of the artist and sitter...




Expressionist style.