The history and meaning of portraiture

We’ll explore some of the key portraits in art history and explore how the portrait’s meaning and function have changed since the Renaissance. We’ll explore whether a portrait has to convey an accurate likeness and how artists go about trying to convey “character”. We’ll also examine how a self-portrait might differ from a portrait of other sitters: can we tell by the scrutiny of the gaze whether a portrait is a self-portrait? We’ll also consider why the portrait continues to endure despite photography.