The portrait in culture of different times and peoples

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

Only an experienced portraitist is able to express in his work the characteristics of the character, the emotional state of the model, its mood at the moment. Important in the portrait are all the details - the appearance of the model, clothing, background surroundings, accessories. They give the artist an opportunity to show also the social position of the person portrayed and add colors to the historical time of that era.

Evolution of the portrait genre

To date, fine art has collected a huge collection of portraits, including the legacy of many masters of the past and present, portraying the portrait genre in the culture of different times. The message conveyed by them in their works best depicts the time in which the portraitists lived and worked. In each epoch, there existed their own ideals of beauty, different styles dominated, and the requirements for portraiture changed. In order to reflect, preserve and convey to the descendants the image of the face, the artists used different material. Sculptural, graphic and pictorial portraits stand out, which emphasizes the versatility that the portrait genre has in the culture of different times. Pictures with the image of a human face could also be made and unconventional: in the form of a mosaic, embroidery, applique, etc.

The origin of the portrait

The first painted portraits are dated by deep antiquity. Their ancestors can be considered found Fayumskie portraits, named for their location (Egyptian oasis Fayum). The frescos discovered during excavations in the ruins of the palace in Crete, in safety, brought to us the beautiful features of young women. Although the image was very schematic, these frescoes can be considered real "protoportrets".

The first surviving portraits, on which the individual features of man were transferred, were the works of the artists of Ancient Greece, Egypt and Rome, who managed to present the genre of portrait in culture of different times to the fullest. These portraits were sculptural and represented the then famous poets and thinkers, military commanders and rulers.

Ancient Greece

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

Later the images become more complicated, the masters try to create sharply portraits. The Hellenistic era was a time of attention to the person, his emotions. The sculpture was dynamic and expressive. The statues created preserved the body of the ideal person, but they strove for portrait resemblance. Antique sculptors sculpted mostly busts, but there were also statues in full growth, which were installed on pedestals. A huge number of sculptural portraits were created from various materials: marble, bronze, silver, gold, ivory.

Ancient Rome

The interests of the state were combined with the Romans with attention to man, his individuality. Artists reflected on the rights and duties of man, on internal independence and the desire for freedom. This determined the development of a true sculptural portrait. The Romans were depicted dressed in ceremonial clothes - toga, because the portrait was intended to glorify the nobility of the family. Early images convey the strength and persistence of character, which preserves the portrait genre in the culture of different times. The development of Roman sculpture was promoted by the ancient custom of making posthumous masks.

In the second half of the II century. The Roman portrait reached the peak of its development. Sculptors now began to pay attention not only to the external resemblance to the model, but also to the disclosure of her mental state. This led to a change in the technique of the image of the eyes - to change the inlay and coloring came plastic techniques. Portraitists of that time are striving for the most accurate transfer of character, exposing the most important personality traits.

The Middle Ages: Jan van Eyck

An independent genre of art became a portrait during the Middle Ages. Flemingman Jan van Eyck was one of the first artists to establish the portrait genre in the culture of different times. The message he left in every painting work came to 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 donators (donors), people who donated money for the arrangement of the church. The tradition of incorporating religious paintings into the faces of the customers of paintings existed even during the Middle Ages. The artist does not simply include the figures of donators in the composition of works, but seeks to reveal their characters.

Renaissance

In the Renaissance the portrait became the first independent pictorial genre. Appearing in the second quarter of the XV century, he quickly became popular. The main task of the portrait was the reflection of the personality of an outstanding contemporary. Artists portrayed not pious and humble donators - their heroes were free faces, not only fully gifted, but also capable of decisive actions.

Germany: Albrecht Durer

The works of the painter and graphic artist became a great contribution to the development of the portrait genre. Portraits of Durer are distinguished by attention to the unique individuality of the model. Their heroes are energetic, intelligent, full of virtues, energy and strength. Self-portraits Dürer attached special attention to, that for that time was a phenomenon unusual, he sought to find individual traits, what distinguishes one person from another.

Italy: Leonardo da Vinci

He was an excellent painter, graphic artist, inventor, scientist, engineer and even musician. His "Mona Lisa" ("Gioconda") - the most famous in the world picture. The landscape in this portrait is not just a background. Woman and nature merge into one harmonious whole. The artist as if aspires to show that the world of the human person is as big and incomprehensible as the surrounding nature. Leonardo da Vinci was able to immortalize the portrait genre in the culture of different times and peoples in his works.

Spain: Francisco Goya

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

England: Thomas Lawrence

The portrait was the highest achievement of English painting at the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. Thomas Lawrence was the first English famous portraitist. Spectacular and virtuosic in the technique of performance portraits of Lawrence bear the imprint of a romantic elevation. The artist paid much attention to the refinement of lines, the richness of the color scale, the courage of the smear. Lawrence wrote portraits of actresses and bankers, children and the elderly, young people and girls. He understood the depth and importance of such a question as the portrait genre in the culture of different times. The album with reproductions of works of Lawrence was published as a separate book and sold thousands of copies around the world.

France: Auguste Renoir

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

Auguste Renoir did not represent his paintings without a man, and the portrait is beyond the life situation. In the mid-1870's. The portrait became the main genre in Renoir painting. In recent years, he began working on the creation of children's portraits: he wrote 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 complemented the portrait genre in the culture of different times. Photos of the works of this great master can be seen in many publications on culture and painting.

Russia

The portrait genre in Russia appeared later than in Europe (XVIII century.) And was in many respects similar to the icon. The beginning of Russian portrait painting is associated with the names of artists such as Nikitin, Matveev, Antropov, Argunov.

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

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

Karl Pavlovich Bryullov wrote a large number of ceremonial portraits imbued with the fascination with 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, the world of a happy childhood.

New time

New time brought a new attitude to art. It should no longer have been adorned, it should not be "beautiful." The portrait, previously existing as it were in two hypostases (ordered and exploratory), becomes more homogeneous. Now this is mainly a commercial genre that gives the artist money, not an opportunity to express oneself. For the self-expression of the master, now more often choose other genres.

Art Nouveau, which appeared at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, returned costume and role portraits. To reveal the character of the model, the artists chose expressive costumes, interiors and even postures reminiscent of the 18th century. This was not a return to the past, blind imitation, but a kind of game, serious and funny at the same time.

Conclusion

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