California Art Artists Directory - Portraits

Portraiture, the representation of the physical or psychological likeness of a real or imaginary individual. The principal portrait media are painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography. From earliest times the portrait has been considered a means to immortality. Many cultures have attributed magical properties to the portrait: symbolization of the majesty or authority of the subject, substitution for a deceased individual's living presence or theft of the soul of the living subject.

The likeness of a person, painted, drawn, or engraved; commonly, a representation of the human face painted from real life.