By Victoria Charles, Klaus H. Carl

In response to the outlined canons of paintings process, a portrait might be, primarily, a loyal illustration of its version. despite the fact that, this gallery of one thousand photos illustrates how the style has been remodeled all through heritage, and has confirmed itself to be even more complicated than an easy imitation of truth. past displaying the ability of the artist, the portrait needs to surpass the duty of imitation, as simply and certain because it should be, to translate either the purpose of the artist in addition to that of its consumer, with out betraying either's needs. hence, those silent witnesses, conscientiously chosen in those pages, display greater than faces of historical figures or nameless topics: they show a psychology greater than an identification, illustrate an allegory, function political and non secular propaganda, and embrace the customs in their epochs. With its notable variety of masterpieces, biographies, and commentaries on works, this ebook offers and analyses various photographs, as a result exposing to the reader, and to any artwork lover, a mirrored image of the evolution of society, and in particular the upheavals of a style that, over three hundred centuries of portray, has formed the historical past of paintings.