 Portraits by John Maler Collier – Hardcover: 512 pages; Parkstone Press (Dec 30, 2020) Art of courts, of the bourgeoisie, or equally of the common people, the portrait has a strong link with death and the endurance of beings through their image. Almost every artist has tried their hand at the portrait, including some of the most famous in history; we can count Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Dürer, Van Eyck, Van Dyck, Velázquez, Nattier, Vigée-Lebrun, David, and even Picasso, Soutine, and Modigliani among them.
The Honourable John Maler Collier OBE RP ROI was a leading English artist, as well as an author. He painted in the Pre-Raphaelite style and was one of the most prominent portrait painters of his generation
 The Art of Motherhood by Marta Alvarez Gonzalez – Hardcover: 448 pages; Getty Publications; 1st edition (Apr 16, 2010) Since the earliest humans began chipping away at stones or applying pigment to walls to capture images from their world, they have depicted the maternal figure. From the fertility sculptures of the Paleolithic era to depictions of Gaia, the Earth Mother, in ancient Greece to the countless paintings of the Madonna and Child, representations of mothers, both symbolic and actual, have been one of the most popular subjects in art.
 The Neo-Impressionist Portrait, 1886–1904 by Jane Block, Ellen Wardwell Lee – Hardcover: 237 pages; Yale University Press (Mar 25, 2014) Best Seller Neo-Impressionism, the style pioneered by Georges Seurat (1859–1891), has long been associated with exquisite landscapes and intriguing scenes of urban leisure. Yet the movement’s use of dotted brushwork and color theory also produced arresting portraits of unusual beauty and perception. The Neo-Impressionist Portrait is the first book to examine the astonishing portraits produced by the most important figures of Neo-Impressionism, including Seurat himself, Henri-Edmond Cross, Georges Lemmen, Maximilien Luce, Paul Signac, Henry van de Velde, Vincent van Gogh, and Théo van Rysselberghe.
 Pastel Portraits: Images of 18th-Century Europe (Metropolitan Museum of Art) by Katharine Baetjer, Marjorie Shelley – Paperback: 56 pages; Metropolitan Museum of Art (Jun 21, 2011) Brightly hued, highly finished, and relatively large in scale, pastels in the 18th century were regarded as a type of painting and displayed like oils. The powdery, vibrant crayons are particularly suited to capturing the skin tones and evanescent expressions that characterize the most lifelike portraits. Pastels cannot be permanently displayed because they are susceptible to fading, and they rarely travel. Until now, there has never been an exhibition in the U.S. devoted to these intriguing and important works. Pastel Portraits, the companion book to an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, presents over 40 exquisite works by French, Italian, English, Swiss, and American artists. It offers a technical discussion of the materials and explains why pastels achieved widespread popularity in the 1700s and how the fabrication of this medium intersected with Enlightenment thinking.
 The Royal Portrait: Image and Impact by Jennifer Scott – Hardcover: 200 pages; Royal Collection Publications (Aug 15, 2010) A fresh assessment of the importance of portraiture in the image-making of monarchs from Richard II to the present day, this book covers a far wider timescale than any previous studies of the subject, and is the first to focus on royal portraiture in the Royal Collection. Starting with the stylised royal portraits of the early kings, it covers works by Holbein, Van Dyck, Zoffany, Landseer and Freud, among many others. Each of the six chapters opens with a quotation, and is structured around specific key images which are discussed in particular detail, while the final chapter investigates the new role of portraiture in the age of photography and global media coverage.
 The Society Portrait: From David to Warhol by Gabriel Badea-Päun, Richard Ormond (Introduction) – Hardcover: 224 pages; Vendome Press (Oct 1, 2007) In a time that celebrates beauty and money over so much else, this book is a lesson in elegance, grace, and style. It draws together for the first time in a single volume a sumptuous gallery of portraits dating from the early nineteenth century to World War II. Some are well-known, others unfamiliar, but all capture the spirit of their age, throwing the society that produced them into sharp and vivid relief.
The Society Portrait offers entertaining anecdotes and intriguing insights into the personalities of both the artists and their patrons, providing a panorama of the settings in which the portraits were created, from French châteaux and English country houses to American mansions and Russian palaces.
From David to Ingres, from Sargent to Boldini, from Dali to Warhol, The Society Portrait presents a dazzling array of works of art, and discusses them in their art historical and social context in the most elegant and entertaining manner.
 Fabric of Vision by Anne Hollander – Paperback: 192 pages; National Gallery London (Jul 1, 2002) Accompanying an exhibition at London's National Gallery of Art in summer 2002, this volume by fashion historian Hollander ( Sex and Suits) demonstrates how artists used garments and draperies as an expressive means in their paintings. Covering Western European art from the Renaissance to the 20th century, Hollander shows how fabric in art reflected each era's social preoccupations, fashions, and tastes. For example, in the 15th century, representations of draperies demonstrated a respect for the properties of the cloth itself, while in the 16th and 17th centuries, rich drapery became used as an emotive, dramatic element. By the early 19th century, dress reflected a new classical simplicity, and the suit became the staple item for men. From then on, women's dress would be more the focus of emotion and sexuality, until the 20th century, when clothing was subordinated altogether to color and forms on a flat surface. The text is illustrated by more than 140 beautiful full-color illustrations of works by such artists as Tintoretto, Van Dyck, Delacroix, and Picasso. Throughout, Hollander brings new insight into the fields of both art and costume history. Recommended for libraries that collect books on art and costume. — Sandra Rothenberg, Framingham State Coll. Lib., MA Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
 Retratos: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits by Marion Oettinger, Miguel Bretos, Carolyn Carr, Elizabeth Benson – Hardcover: 304 pages; Yale University Press (Dec 1, 2004) The tradition of portraiture in Latin America is astonishingly long and rich. For over 2,000 years, portraits have been used to preserve the memory of the deceased, bolster the social standing of the aristocracy, mark the deeds of the mighty, advance the careers of politicians, record rites of passage, and mock symbols of the status quo. This beautiful and wide-ranging book-the first to explore the tradition of portraiture in Latin America from pre-Columbian times to the present day-features some 200 works from fifteen countries.
Retratos (Portraits) presents an engaging variety of works by such well-known figures as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Fernando Botero, and Jose Campeche as well as stunning examples by anonymous and obscure artists. Distinguished contributors discuss the significance of portraits in ancient Mayan civilizations, in the world of colonial Iberians, in the political struggles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and in a remarkable range of other times and locations. With a wealth of informative details and exquisite color illustrations, Retratos invites readers to appreciate Latin American portraits and their many meanings as never before.
This book is the catalogue for the first exhibition of Latin American portraiture ever organized in the United States. The exhibition is on view at El Museo del Barrio, New York (December 3, 2004 to March 20, 2005); the San Diego Museum of Art (April 16 to June 12, 2005); the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach (July 23 to October 2, 2005); the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C. (October 21, 2005, to January 8, 2006; and the San Antonio Museum of Art (February 4 to April 30, 2006).
 Pontormo: Portrait of a Halberdier (Getty Museum Studies on Art) by Elizabeth Cropper – Paperback: 126 pages; J. Paul Getty Trust Publications (Apr 1, 1998) Much has been written about the identity of the sitter in this great portrait. In 1568, Vasari noted that Pontormo painted a beautiful work, a portrait of Francesco Guardi. In 1612, however, the name of Cosimo de'Medici was attached to a description of the portrait. In this volume, Cropper argues that the subject of the painting is indeed Francesco Guardi. She discusses not only the specific determination of the sitter but the tools and methods used in general for establishing the people and places portrayed in works of art.
 Van Gogh Face to Face: The Portraits by George Keys, Joseph J. Rishel, Katherine Sachs, Roland Dorn, Graham W. J. Beal, George S. Keyes, George T.M. Shackleford, Lauren Soth, Judy Sund – ardcover: 272 pages; Thames & Hudson; 1st edition (Apr 2000) Published to accompany a major touring exhibition, Van Gogh Face to Face brings together for the first time the great portraits from all periods of the painter's life, augmented by reproductions of many of his most important other paintings. The result is an unprecedented and wonderfully revealing study of van Gogh's development as an artist, making it possible to see his evolving approach to the genre as he pushed back the boundaries of portraiture, culminating in the masterworks of his final years.
 Vincent Van Gogh: The Painter and the Portrait by George T. M. Shackelford – Hardcover: 80 pages; Universe (Jul 7, 2000) Vincent van Gogh: The Painter and the Portrait, produced in conjunction with the international loan exhibition Van Gogh: Face to Face, explores the artist's changing conception of the portrait from his first experiments with drawing character studies around 1880 to his astonishing explorations of expressive color at the end of the decade. Illustrated with more than 50 color plates.
 Portraits: A History by Andreas Beyer – Hardcover: 416 pages; Harry N. Abrams (Oct 1, 2003) This sumptuous, oversized art treasury-with nearly 300 full-page reproductions of major works from museums all over the world-presents the history of Western portraiture, from its earliest beginnings in ancient art to its flowering in the Renaissance and Baroque eras to its transformation in modern times. The masters of the portrait-including Van Eyck, Leonardo, Raphael, Hals, Holbein, and Rembrandt-are all well represented, as are more recent practitioners of the genre such as Picasso, Chuck Close, and Gerhard Richter. Numerous stunning, close-up details provide an intimate view of the subjects depicted and invaluable information about the artists' techniques. Art historian Andreas Beyer's well-researched and far-ranging text offers a fascinating overview of portraiture; it is augmented by extended captions that shed light on each of the individual works, a complete bibliography, and biographies of the artists. Thomas Gainsborough's The Blue Boy, François Boucher's Madame de Pompadour, John Singer Sargent's Madame X, Pablo Picasso's Gertrude Stein, and scores of other masterworks by famous and less-well-known artists make this deluxe volume a joy to behold-a splendid celebration of a key aspect of our artistic heritage.
 Russian Portraits in Watercolour 1825-1855 by Maurice Baruch – Hardcover: 200 pages; Antique Collectors Club, 1997 This work reveals for the first time a large number of paintings—chiefly portraits of contemporaries of Pushkin - taken from one of the most significant and important private collections of Russian watercolor portraits of the nineteenth century. It is of exceptional interest not only for the quality of the works reproduced, but also for the great variety of both artists and subjects represented. So full of life and expression are these portraits that it is impossible to resist conjuring up images of an era—and a technique—that have been overlooked for many years. Text in Russian and English. Slipcased.
|  Russia and the Arts: The Age of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky by Rosalind Blakesley – Paperback: 176 pages; National Portrait Gallery (Mar 22, 2016) Russia and the Arts: The Age of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky explores the history of Russian portraiture between 1867 and 1914, a time of great cultural vibrancy in the country and a golden age of the Russian portrait. While Tolstoy and Dostoevsky were publishing masterpieces such as Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov and Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov were taking Russian music to new heights, Russian art was developing a new self-confidence. The penetrating Realism of the 1870s and 1880s was later complemented by the brighter hues of Russian Impressionism and the bold forms of Symbolist painting; these styles were applied to portraits of prominent thinkers, writers, scientists, artists, actors, composers and musicians by the most outstanding painters of the day.
This volume traces the period’s developments in Russian art through the collection of the Moscow State Tretyakov Gallery, founded in 1856, itself a product of this same moment of cultural flourishing. Portraiture was a major part of the collection’s mission from the late 1860s, when founder Pavel Tretyakov began to commission and acquire portraits guided by two principal values: the historical role of the sitter and the artistic value of the portrait. Beautifully illustrated with key works from the State Tretyakov Gallery, Russia and the Arts highlights some of the extraordinary developments that took place in the arts in Russia in the years before World War I.
 Eye to Eye: European Portraits, 1450-1850 (Clark Art Institute) by Richard Rand – Hardcover: 160 pages; Clark Art Institute (Feb 1, 2011) Portraiture is an enduring genre that has captivated artists and viewers for hundreds of years. From the late 15th through the early 19th century, artists continued to find new ways of approaching the portrait by exploring a range of styles, strategies, and themes. In this beautiful book, noted scholars discuss these various approaches and explain how they apply to specific examples, focusing on thirty superb portraits drawn from a distinguished private collection. Although many of these portraits are by renowned artists such as Lucas Cranach the Elder, Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Hans Memling, and Anthony van Dyck, others testify to the talents of lesser-known artists who are equally deserving of attention. Moreover, several of the featured paintings are previously unpublished, including works by Giovanni Battista Moroni, Parmigianino, Jusepe de Ribera, and Peter Paul Rubens.
 Portraiture (Oxford History of Art) by Shearer West – Paperback: 256 pages; Oxford University Press (Apr 1, 2004) Best Seller This fascinating new addition to the acclaimed Oxford History of Art series explores the world of portraiture from a number of vantage points, and asks key questions about its nature. How has portraiture changed over the centuries? How have portraits represented their subjects, and how have they been interpreted? The book provides a clear, yet thorough overview of the history of portraiture in terms of social, political, economic, and psychological factors over a broad time span. Issues such as identity, modernity, and gender are considered within their cultural and historical contexts. Shearer West uncovers intriguing aspects of portraiture-a genre that has often been seen as purely representational, featuring examples from African tribes to Renaissance princes, and from 'stars' such as David and Victoria Beckham to everyday people. West examines the many meanings and uses of portraits throughout the ages and includes a wide range of artists from Botticelli to Picasso, and Hans Holbein to Frida Kahlo. In the process, she reveals the faces of the past in an exciting new way. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this book is a unique and accessible introduction to the history of portraiture.
 Glitter and Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s by Sabine Rewald, Ian Buruma, Matthias Eberle – Hardcover: 304 pages; Metropolitan Museum of Art (Dec 1, 2006) Best Seller In the 1920s Germany was in the grip of social and political turmoil: its citizens were disillusioned by defeat in World War I, the failure of revolution, the disintegration of their social system, and inflation of rampant proportions. Curiously, as this important book shows, these years of upheaval were also a time of creative ferment and innovative accomplishment in literature, theater, film, and art.
 Old Master Portrait Drawings (Dover Art Library Series) by James Spero – Paperback: 44 pages; Dover Publications, 1990 47 masterpieces of drawing from the great schools and traditions of Italy and northern Europe, spanning four centuries from Filippino Lippi, Andrea del Sarto and Titian to Rembrandt, Van Dyck and Ingres. 47 plates.
 Worshiping the Ancestors: Chinese Commemorative Portraits by Jan Stuart – Paperback: 216 pages; (Sep 2001) Despite their compelling presence and often exquisite quality, Chinese ancestor portraits have never been studied as a genre. This richly illustrated book is the first to explore in depth the artistic, historical, and religious significance of these remarkable paintings and to place them with other types of commemorative portraiture.
 Qajar Portraits: Figure Paintings from Nineteenth Century Persia (Azimuth Editions in Association With Iran Heritage Foundation) by Julian Raby – Paperback: 104 pages; I. B. Tauris (Jul 20, 2001) Qajar Portraits is a beautifully-illustrated, comprehensive overview of Qajar imperial portraiture. The items, which include several of the most important works of early Qajar art, clearly depict the political role of portraiture under the Qajars and the influence of Napoleonic portraits on the development of Persia’s early-20th century imperial iconography under Fath ‘Ali Shah, and the use of portraiture in Qajar civil and military Orders of Merit. No other Muslim dynasty, except the Mughals, used portraiture as intensively to further dynastic and political ends.
 Portraiture: Facing the Subject by Joanna Woodall – Paperback: 304 pages; Manchester University Press; 1st edition (Mar 6, 1997) Portraiture occupies a central position in the history of Western art. It has been the most popular genre of painting and has been crucial to the construction and articulation of individualism. Despite this, its status within academic art theory is uncertain and there is no adequate critical analysis of the subject available. With an international team of specialists, including Patricia Simmons, Ludmilla Jordanova, John Gage, Marcia Pointon and Ernst Van Alphen, this volume provides a much-needed, comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the major issues in the history of portraiture. The book's chapters are structured chronologically, progressing from the Italian Renaissance to Dutch seventeenth-century portraiture and on to Picasso, surrealism, Lucian Freud and Cindy Sherman. Each chapter examines the key developments in portraiture within each specific period, complete with analytical subheadings, making this an ideal book for students.
 Portrait of Dr. Gachet: The Story of a Van Gogh Masterpiece: Modernism, Money, Politics, Collectors, Dealers, Taste, Greed, and Loss by Cynthia Saltzman – Hardcover: 336 pages; Viking Press (May 1998) Only a few weeks before his 1890 suicide, Vincent van Gogh painted a portrait of Paul-Ferdinand Gachet, a local physician the painter had been fruitlessly consulting about his depression. Upon his death, the painting, like much of van Gogh's work, went to his brother, Theo. A few years later, Theo's widow sold it for 300 francs (worth, then, $58). In 1990, a wealthy Japanese businessman paid $82.5 million at a Christie's auction for it and promptly hid it away in a Tokyo warehouse, where it presumably remains to this day.
Cynthia Saltzman traces the painting's provenance through a century of art collecting and cultural politics. Along the way, the portrait passes through—among others—the hands of early modernist collectors, the Nazi regime (where it was shown as part of an exhibit of "degenerate" art), and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition to a detailed account of the circumstances of each change of possession (it slipped out of the Nazis' hands, for example, when Herman Goerring needed a quick transfusion of hard currency), Saltzman provides a sensitive appraisal of the changing critical reputation of van Gogh and of the fluctuating market for "masterpieces" on canvas. Portrait of Dr. Gachet is an art history which never loses sight of the fact that art history is always a subset of a larger history.
 Portraiture in Russia by Yevgenia Petrova (Editor) – Hardcover: 408 pages; State Russian Museum (Jun 1, 2002)
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Dutch and Flemish Portraits 1600-1800
Great Portrait Drawings and Prints
Bibliography on Portraiture: Selected Writings on Portraiture As an Art Form and As Documentation
The Spanish Portrait: From El Greco To Picasso
Papi in Posa: 500 Years of Papal Portraiture
Portraits of Livia: Imaging the Imperial Woman in Augustan Rome
Dutch Portraits from the Seventeenth Century = Nederlandse Portretten
