Portrait-Making (Literal and Fanciful) - XVII

attributed to the Master of the Countess of Warwick
Elizabeth Fitzgerald, later Countess of Lincoln
("The Fair Geraldine")
ca. 1560-70
oil on panel
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

François Clouet
François de la Rochefoucauld,
seigneur de Ravel et de Rascel
ca. 1558
drawing
Musée du Louvre

Anonymous Italian Artist
Portrait of a Nobleman in Armour
ca. 1540-60
oil on canvas
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Bartolomeo Veneto
Portrait of Lodovico Martinengo
1546
oil on panel
National Gallery, London

John  Bettes the Elder
Portrait of a Man in a Black Cap
1545
oil on panel
Tate Britain

Corneille de Lyon
Portrait of François de Bonnivet
ca. 1545
oil on panel
Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio

Corneille de Lyon
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1540
oil on panel
Indianapolis Museum of Art

Bernardino Luini
Portrait of a Woman
before 1532
drawing
Musée du Louvre

Jan Gossaert
Portrait of a Man with Gloves
ca. 1530-32
oil on panel
National Gallery, London

Jan Gossaert
Portrait of a Nobleman
ca. 1530
oil on panel
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Simon Bening
Portrait of a Man
1525
gouache on vellum
Musée du Louvre

Rosso Fiorentino
Portrait of a Knight of Saint John
ca. 1523-24
oil on panel
National Gallery, London

Rosso Fiorentino
Portrait of a Young Man holding a Letter
1518
oil on panel
National Gallery, London

Domenico Capriolo
Portrait of a Youth in Armour
ca. 1520
oil on panel
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Macrino d'Alba
Portrait of Anne d'Alençon, Marchesa di Monferrato
ca. 1518
oil on panel
Chiesa di Santa Maria di Crea a Casale Monferrato

Anonymous Netherlandish Artist
Portrait of a Princess with a Falcon
16th century
watercolor on vellum
Musée du Louvre

"To be a good Face-Painter, a degree of the Historical, and Poetical Genius is requisite, and a great Measure of the other Talents, and Advantages which a good History-Painter must possess: Nay some of them, particularly Colouring, he ought to have in greater Perfection than is absolutely necessary for a History-Painter." 

"A Portrait-Painter must understand Mankind, and enter into their Characters, and express their Minds as well as their Faces: And as his Business is chiefly with People of Condition, he must Think as a Gentleman, and a Man of Sense, or 'twill be impossible to give Such their True, and Proper Resemblances."

"But if a Painter of this kind is not oblig'd to take in such a compass of Knowledge as he that paints History, and that the Latter upon Some accounts is the nobler Employment, upon Others the Preference is due to Face-Painting; and the peculiar Difficulties such a one has to encounter will perhaps balance what he is excused from.  He is chiefly concerned with the Noblest, and most Beautiful part of Humane Nature, the Face; and is obliged to the utmost Exactness.  A History-Painter has vast Liberties; if he is to give Life, and Greatness, and Grace to his Figures, and the Airs of his Heads, he may chuse what Faces, and Figures he pleases; but the Other must give all that (in some degree at least) to Subjects where 'tis not always to be found, and must Find, or Make Variety in much narrower Bounds than the History-Painter has to Range in." 

– Jonathan Richardson, Senior, from Essay on the Theory of Painting (1725)

Portrait-Making (Literal and Fanciful) - XVI

Lavinia Fontana
Portrait of Bianca degli Utili Maselli,
her five sons, and her daughter Verginia
ca. 1604-1605
oil on canvas
private collection

Robert Peake the Elder
Portrait of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
(elder brother of the future Charles I)
ca. 1603-1605
oil on panel
Museum of London

Jacopo da Empoli (Jacopo Chimenti)
Portrait of a Noblewoman dressed in Mourning
ca. 1600
oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago

Jacopo da Empoli (Jacopo Chimenti)
Portrait of a Lady as St Margaret
ca. 1600
oil on canvas
private collection

Agostino Carracci
Portrait of Anna Parolini Guicciardini
1598
oil on canvas
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Piermaria Bagnadore
Portrait of a Man in Armour
1596
oil on canvas
Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia

Scipione Pulzone
Portrait of Cardinal Michele Bonelli Ghislieri
1586
oil on canvas
Harvard Art Museums

Scipione Pulzone
Portrait of a Lady
ca. 1580-90
oil on canvas
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Scipione Pulzone
Portrait of a Cardinal
ca. 1575
oil on canvas
National Gallery, London

Johann Gregor van der Schardt
Bust of Anna Imhoff
ca. 1580
painted terracotta
Bode Museum, Berlin

Johann Gregor van der Schardt
Bust of Willibald Imhoff
ca. 1570
painted terracotta
Bode Museum, Berlin

George Gower
Portrait of Lady Philippa Coningsby
1578
oil on panel
Indianapolis Museum of Art 

Girolamo Miruoli
Ornamental Mask
ca. 1570
drawing
Musée du Louvre

Cristóvão de Morais
Portrait of Sebastian I of Portugal
ca. 1570-75
oil on canvas
Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon

Mirabello Cavalori
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1570
oil on panel
private collection

Mirabello Cavalori
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1560-65
oil on panel
private collection 

"With these preparations and precepts, and the canvas primed and ready, we arrive at how to begin the portrait.  If it is to be full-length, and if the subject tires of standing, the canvas may be lowered a certain distance on the stretcher so both the artist and the person being portrayed may be seated, and the excess linen can be rolled at the bottom of the stretcher.  North or northerly light will be more constant and temperate, and the other three directions should be avoided because of the harshness of their sunlight.  Some like to paint in the afternoon because the flesh is in perfect color then.  But my disposition is better accommodated in the morning, when no other occupation has yet distracted my concentration and understanding.  From nine until twelve, it will be possible to draw and bosquexar the head, and if some parts remain unfinished, they can be completed another day at the same hour.  First, the length of the face must be taken with a compass with the light falling from high above, but without making the shadows too strong.  The painter should place himself at an appropriate distance, neither too close nor too far, from which he can turn easily to see both the subject and the canvas.  The head should be studied carefully, to see whether it tends to be long or round, and the form of the whole in relation to its parts.  The outline will be made with a long pointed yeso mate, exercising dexterity and propriety as if you were going to leave the portrait thus.  The painter should not move on until he is satisfied that in the contours he has captured a very good likeness of his patron, and if possible, that the patron himself should examine it before the colors are prepared.  I do not consider it wise to leave the likeness to brushwork, preferring to achieve it little by little with the bosquexo and the finishing touches.  It happens that in my drawings, the subject can be recognized by the lines alone; but how can this ever be done by someone who does not lift a pencil to draw in a full year?  I have observed, with all respect, that those who follow only the oficio of portraiture and do not study it thoroughly, never make the parts of the portrait accurately, but only approximate its totality (that is to say, the 'air' of the sitter), and all their portraits are made with one method of drawing and coloring, and therefore all the persons portrayed give the impression of being kin; in some parts, such as the ears, which rarely are studied and painted with care, there often is no difference at all from one head to the next.  Yet those artist who are valiente reflect all the variety and difference found in their living subjects, even in the smallest details, because they have the advantage of knowledge and practice in drawing."

– Francesco Pacheco, from The Art of Painting (1649), translated by Zahira Veliz (1986)

Portrait-Making (Literal and Fanciful) - XV

Salvator Rosa
Self Portrait
ca. 1650-60
oil on canvas
Detroit Institute of Arts

Anonymous Lombard Artist
Portrait of Suor Anna Biondi
1655
oil on canvas
Palazzo d'Arco, Mantua

Cornelius Johnson
James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby
before 1651
oil on canvas
Tabley House, Cheshire

Dirk Helmbreker
Self Portrait
ca. 1650
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Isaac Fuller
Portrait of Sir Thomas Baines
ca. 1649
oil on canvas
Christ's College, University of Cambridge

William Dobson
Portrait of John Byron, 1st Lord Byron
before 1646
oil on canvas
Tabley House, Cheshire

William Dobson
Portrait of architect Inigo Jones
ca. 1644
oil on canvas
Chiswick House, London

Domingos Vieira Serrão
Portrait of Isabel de Moura
ca. 1630
oil on canvas
Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon

Francesco Mochi
Bust of Cardinal Antonio Barberini
ca. 1629
marble
Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio

Anonymous French Artist
Portrait of a Young Man
ca. 1620-30
oil on canvas
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Ottavio Leoni
Portrait of sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini
1622
engraving
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Ottavio Leoni
Portrait of Cardinal Scipione Borghese
ca. 1620
oil on canvas
Musée Fesch, Ajaccio, Corsica

Pietro Facchetti
Portrait of a Cardinal
before 1619
oil on canvas
private collection

Nicolas Lagneau
Study of a Woman
ca. 1600-1610
drawing
Musée du Louvre

attributed to Nicolas Lagneau
Portrait of an Old Man
ca. 1600-1610
drawing
Musée Bonnat, Bayonne

Anonymous Emilian Artist
Portrait of a Man with a Pair of Compasses
ca. 1600-1650
oil on canvas
National Gallery, London

"We approach, then, the working method for portraits.  He who paints portraits is obliged to do two things – if I am not mistaken – and if he fulfills both, he is deserving of praise.  The first is that the portrait appear very much like the sitter, and this is the principal end for which portraits are made, and that which satisfies the patron.  Both good and bad painters are obliged to do this, and if it is not achieved, their work is for naught.  The second obligation is that the portrait be well drawn, and painted in a good manner of colorido, with strength and relief.  This second obligation is valued and credited among those who have appreciation of art because even if the sitter is unknown, he will yet be esteemed in regard to good painting.  It sometimes happens that an ignorant and simple painter makes very good likenesses of his patrons and then they are recognized at a glance, as they achieve a rigid likeness as if cut from paper, are crudely made with such lack of art that in regard to painting, they have no value at all; and those who painted them usually are so puffed up with pride seeing their vulgar works celebrated, that they seem to lose their reason, while to those who know, these same works only give cause for laughter and amusement."  

– Francesco Pacheco, from The Art of Painting (1649), translated by Zahira Veliz (1986)

Portrait-Making (Literal and Fanciful) - XIV

Jean-Louis Lemoyne
Portrait of Jacques-Rolland Moreau
1712
marble
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

from Diary of the Cavaliere Bernini's Visit to France 

Speaking of sculpture and the difficulty of making a success of it, and particularly of getting a likeness in marble, he told me a remarkable thing, which he has since repeated on many occasions – that if a man bleached his hair, his beard, his eyebrows, and, if it were possible, the pupils of his eyes and his lips, and showed himself in this state to those who were accustomed to see him every day, they would have difficulty in recognizing him.  To prove it he added that the pallor which fainting brings makes a man almost unrecognizable, so that people exclaim, 'He no longer seems to be the same man.'  For this reason it is extremely hard to get a likeness in marble that is all of one color.  He told me something even more extraordinary, that to imitate nature in marble it may be necessary to put in that which is not there.  He said something even more paradoxical, that sometimes in a marble portrait, in order to represent the dark which some people have around their eyes, one must hollow out the marble, in this way obtaining the effect of color and supplementing, so to speak, the art of sculpture, which cannot give color to things.  So naturalism is not the same as imitation.  . . .  M. de Lionne mentioned portraits in bronze.  The Cavaliere said it was an even less suitable material than marble because it darkened.  If it were covered in gilt, the luster made reflections which prevented one from observing the delicacy and beauty of the portrait; on the other hand, nine or ten years after marble had been worked, it acquired an indescribable softness of tone and in the end became the color of flesh."

– Paul Fréart do Chantelou (1665), translated by Margery Corbett (1985) 

Jean-Baptiste de Poilly after Joseph Vivien
Portrait of artist Corneille van Clève
ca. 1714
etching
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Dirk Helmbreker
Study of a Woman
before 1696
drawing
Musée du Louvre

Pietro Dandini
Portrait of Francesco Redi
ca. 1695
oil on canvas
Palazzo della Fraternità dei Laici, Arezzo

Simon Gribelin after D. Vautier
Portrait of William Cavendish,
1st Duke of Devonshire
ca. 1680-89
engraving
Harvard Art Museums

Willem Wissing
Portrait of Princess Mary,
elder daughter of James II
ca. 1685
oil on canvas
Congregational Memorial Hall, London

Mary Beale
Portrait of Charles Beale,
the artist's husband
ca. 1680
oil on bed ticking
West Suffolk Council, Bury St Edmunds

John Michael Wright
Portrait of Sir Neil O'Neill
1680
oil on canvas
Tate Britain

Pietro della Vecchia
Head of a Landsknecht
before 1678
oil on canvas
Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara

Giovanni Bernardo Carboni
Portrait of a Gentleman
ca. 1675
oil on canvas
Indianapolis Museum of Art

Henri Gascars
Portrait of Barbara Villiers,
Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland
ca. 1670
oil on canvas
National Trust, Hatchlands, Surrey

Peter Lely
Portrait of Lady Margaret Murray, Lady Maynard
ca. 1670-75
oil on canvas
National Trust, Ham House, London

Peter Lely
Portrait of the Honourable Elizabeth Alington,
Lady Seymour of Trowbridge
ca. 1663-65
oil on canvas
National Trust, Petworth House, Sussex

Peter Lely
Portrait of Sir William Compton
ca. 1655-60
oil on canvas
National Trust, Ham House, London

Peter Lely
Portrait of Josceline Percy, Lord Percy
1658
oil on canvas
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Michel Corneille the Younger
Head Study after the Antique
ca. 1660
drawing
Musée du Louvre

"Resemblance, character, costume, are the three requisites of portrait: the first distinguishes, the second classifies, the third assigns place and time to an individual."

– Henry Fuseli, from Aphorisms on Art (1818)