Portraiture

Without revealing the picture, select any image of a person and describe their features to your class in detail. Consider the person’s unique qualities , facial features and expression, clothing and pose. Ask your classmates to draw or paint this person from your description. Display these works alongside the original image.

Choose a portrait in which the surrounding environment reveals information about the sitter. What clues does the artist give the viewer? How do specific objects and elements inform us about the sitter and their world?

Choose a portrait and consider the sitter’s body language, facial expression and gaze. What do these things tell you about the sitter? How do they make you feel as the viewer? Do you feel welcomed or uncomfortable? Are you being ignored or judged?

Consider the relationship between sitter and artist. Does it matter whether they are strangers, acquaintances or close friends? Can an artist create a successful portrait of someone they don’t admire or agree with? Discuss this in class.

Consider the role of patronage. How might an artist cope with the tension between what the sitter looks like and how they would like to appear? Has portraiture as a genre survived through patronage alone? If not, what else has kept it alive?