Portrait facts for kids
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Have you ever seen a picture of someone that really captures who they are? That's a portrait! It's a special kind of painting or photograph that focuses on a person's face and their feelings. The main goal of a portrait is to show exactly what someone looks like, their unique personality, and even their current mood.
In photography, a portrait is not just a quick photo. It's a calm picture where the person is usually still. Often, the person in a portrait looks straight at the artist or photographer. This helps them connect with anyone looking at the portrait.
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What is a Portrait?
A portrait is an artistic image of a person. It can be a painting, a photograph, a sculpture, or even a drawing. The main subject is always a person, or sometimes a group of people. Artists create portraits to show how someone looks and who they are.
Why Artists Make Portraits
Artists make portraits for many reasons. Sometimes, they want to remember an important person, like a king or a queen. Other times, people pay artists to make a portrait of themselves or their family. This is a way to celebrate their lives or show their status.
Portraits can also tell us about history. They show us what people wore, how they styled their hair, and even what their homes looked like in different times.
Types of Portraits
There are many kinds of portraits:
- Self-portrait: This is when an artist makes a portrait of themselves. Vincent van Gogh made many famous self-portraits.
- Group portrait: This shows more than one person, like a family or a team.
- Official portrait: These are often made for leaders, like presidents or prime ministers. They usually hang in public buildings.
- Miniature portrait: These are very small portraits, often painted on ivory or metal. People used to carry them as keepsakes.
History of Portraits
People have been making portraits for thousands of years. The earliest ones were found in ancient Egypt and Rome.
Early Portraits
In ancient Egypt, pharaohs and important people had their portraits carved into stone or painted on tombs. These were often made to last forever. The ancient Romans also made realistic portraits, sometimes even death masks, to remember their ancestors.
Portraits in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
During the Middle Ages, portraits were less common. Art often focused on religious themes. But in the Renaissance, artists became very interested in showing real people. Famous artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael created some of the most well-known portraits in history. These portraits showed people with more emotion and detail.
Modern Portraits
The invention of photography in the 19th century changed portraits forever. Suddenly, it was much easier and cheaper to get a person's image. This led to new styles in painted portraits, as artists explored different ways to show personality and feeling, rather than just exact likeness. Today, portraits are still a popular form of art, both in painting and photography.
Images for kids
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Plastered skull, Tell es-Sultan, Jericho, Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, circa 9000 BC. This is one of the earliest known human portraits.
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Roman-Egyptian funeral portrait of a young boy. These were painted on wooden boards and placed over the faces of mummies.
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Moche ceramic portrait. Larco Museum Collection. Lima-Peru. This ancient pottery shows a person's face.
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Late 18th Century portrait by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun. She was a famous female painter.
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Rembrandt Peale, Portrait of Thomas Jefferson, 1805. New-York Historical Society. This is a portrait of an important American leader.
See also
In Spanish: Retrato para niños
