a painting, photograph, drawing, etc. of a person or, less commonly, of a group of people: She's commissioned an artist to paint her portrait/ paint a portrait of her. a portrait a portrait painter A film or book that is a portrait of something describes or represents that thing in a detailed way: Portraits are artistic representations of people. They can be created in any media, from traditional oil paintings, to photographs, sculpture and even mixed media. Portraits can show part figures, usually showing the sitter's head and shoulders, but they can also depict the whole figure. Modern landscapes. Modern portraits. Popular culture. For as long as people have been making art, they have been portraying themselves and others. Portraits can be literal, realistic representations or they can be interpretive, symbolic. Portrait painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and private persons, or they may be inspired by admiration or affection for the subject. 1 : picture especially : a pictorial representation of a person usually showing the face 2 : a sculptured figure : bust 3 : a graphic portrayal in words portrait 2 of 2 adjective : of, relating to, or being a rectangular document having the vertical dimension longer than the horizontal dimension switching from landscape to portrait mode rqhaful.

portrait definition in art