Portraits. How people presented themselves

Petrus Christus · 1446

A fly rests on a painted frame beside an illusionistic inscription. Both appear to occupy the viewer’s side of the portrait. Behind the monk, Christus paints a warmly lit room, strengthening the impression of a person present before us.

Jan van Eyck · 1434

The man is usually identified as Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini, with his wife. Their room and belongings display wealth. Two more figures appear in the convex mirror beneath the painter's conspicuous inscription. The portrait's function remains debated, so it cannot be treated as an established record of a wedding.

Fra Filippo Lippi · ca. 1440

The museum identifies this as the earliest surviving Italian double portrait. The woman’s clothing, an embroidered pledge of fidelity and a coat of arms suggest a marriage commission. A domestic interior opening towards landscape was also an early innovation in this kind of portraiture.

Leonardo da Vinci · c. 1474/1478

Ginevra was a Florentine banker's daughter and a poet. The portrait dates around her marriage, but its commissioner is uncertain. Leonardo turned her into a three-quarter view beyond the profile then common for women. Juniper behind her alludes to her name through the Italian word ginepro.

Leonardo da Vinci · 1503–1519

The sitter is Lisa Gherardini, wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Leonardo kept the painting, which later entered the French royal collection. Soft transitions known as sfumato join the face with the distant landscape. The edges of eyes and mouth remain responsive to changing visual attention.

Hans Holbein the Younger · 1533

Jean de Dinteville was in England reporting to Francis I on Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn. His friend Georges de Selve visited in 1533. Holbein placed them among instruments, books and signs of status during a period of religious upheaval. Their portrait later hung in the Great Hall of Dinteville's château at Polisy.

Frans Hals · 1624

The inscription gives this unidentified sitter's age as twenty-six. The familiar title came much later and does not establish a military identity. Hals painted a richly decorated costume with varied blacks and animated brushwork. At close range, the apparently precise fabrics break into individual marks.

Jacques Louis David · 1788

Marie Anne kept records of her husband’s experiments and illustrated his publications. David presents the couple with scientific instruments, although technical examination revealed an earlier design without them. The portrait was withheld from the Salon of 1789 amid revolutionary tensions.

Hans Holbein the Younger · probably 1538

The portrait is associated with Holbein's New Year's gift to Henry VIII in 1539. The king's only legitimate son holds a scepter and makes an authoritative gesture. Latin verse beneath stresses dynastic succession. Even an infant portrait was expected to support confidence in the monarchy's future.

Pontormo, · 1534–35

This preliminary portrait provided a reference for Pontormo and his workshop when making larger formal images of Florence’s ruler. Alessandro’s short reign ended when a relative assassinated him. The small study was a working tool of court painting, allowing a recognisable face to recur in different official compositions.

Diego Velázquez · 1656

Velázquez painted Infanta Margarita and her attendants in 1656, including himself beside a large canvas. Several people look towards us, while the royal couple appears in a distant mirror. A court portrait becomes a complex scene of an artist at work.

Chitarman · recto: dated 1627–28; verso: ca. 1530–50

Chitarman painted this image soon after Shah Jahan's accession. The emperor holds a jeweled pendant bearing his own portrait. A halo, European-derived angels, textiles, and architecture proclaim imperial authority while displaying the skills of the workshops supplying the court.

Attributed to Bishandas · c. 1627

Nur Jahan holds a formal portrait of her husband. She managed many affairs of state and hoped to retain influence after his death. Her own face is idealized and younger than her actual age. The painting draws on a dynastic device in which an earlier ruler's image supports a claim to authority.

Hashim · c. 1630

The small portrait was probably made soon after Shah Jahan became emperor in 1628. His full beard belonged to the public presentation of a more orthodox ruler. Hashim's signature appears behind the sitter's neck. The miniature preserves a recognizable face, imperial rank, and the painter's name.

Unidentified Korean painters · ca. 1790–1805

Comparison with other portraits confirms Yun Dongseom’s identity. A high-rank belt places this work in 1790 or later. It probably served a family ancestral shrine and may have been painted after his death using earlier likenesses.

Jacques Louis David · 1812

A clock, nearly spent candles, and disordered clothing present an emperor who has worked through the night on legislation. David assembles these signs into a persuasive political image. Separate events and objects support the claim of tireless administration. The apparently observed moment was deliberately constructed.

Judith Leyster · c. 1630

Leyster presents herself at work, though the elaborate collar would have been impractical while painting. It demonstrates her ability to render lace alongside velvet and sheer fabric. The portrait addresses prospective collectors as evidence of professional skill. Later, some of her works were sold under male contemporaries' names.

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard · 1785

Labille-Guiard portrays herself working with Marie Gabrielle Capet and Marie Marguerite Carreaux de Rosemond. Successfully exhibited in 1785, the picture has been read as advocacy for women’s artistic education at a time when their Royal Academy membership was restricted.

Matthew Pratt · 1765

Artists gather in Benjamin West’s London studio. West stands on the left; Pratt probably sits at the easel. Younger artists draw nearby. The group records academic training and professional support among Americans working abroad.

Vincent van Gogh · 1887

In Paris, Van Gogh encountered Impressionism and Seurat’s experiments with separate touches of colour. During two years there he painted at least twenty-four self-portraits. This small work on prepared board records his changing palette. Red, green and blue help build the face alongside conventional light and shade.

Vincent van Gogh · 1889

Van Gogh painted himself while recovering from a severe crisis at Saint-Rémy. This is one of his last self-portraits. Brushes and palette show him continuing to work. The vigorous marks and color relationships belong to deliberate artistic decisions considered alongside his circumstances.

Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun · 1789

The countess’s white muslin dress reflects a fashion popularised by Marie Antoinette. Her pose probably responds to British portraiture. Painted in 1789, the picture preserves a setting both sitter and painter would leave during the French Revolution.

Joshua Johnson · ca. 1805

Johnson is considered the first known professional African American portrait painter. These Baltimore children display strong colour and precise detail that later appealed to modern artists and collectors. The painting’s history of recognition continued long after its maker’s lifetime.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir · 1878

The publisher’s family sits in a Parisian interior decorated with Japanese objects. Marguerite Charpentier’s literary and social connections helped secure prominent placement at the Salon of 1879. The portrait reveals the practical importance of a painter’s patrons and their networks.

John Singer Sargent · 1883–84

Sargent painted Virginie Gautreau without a commission, hoping to advance his reputation. Following criticism at the Salon of 1884, he repainted a fallen shoulder strap. He kept the canvas for more than thirty years. Public portraiture carried risk for painter and sitter alike.

John Singer Sargent · 1897

Elizabeth Swinton was a celebrated amateur singer who later performed professionally. The commissioned portrait emphasises her social presence and bearing. Sargent carefully paints the face while describing fabric with broad, rapid strokes. This union of likeness and conspicuous painterly skill made him sought after in Europe and America.

Gustav Klimt · 1912–13

Nine-year-old Mäda wears a dress designed by Emilie Flöge. Her parents supported Vienna’s progressive artistic circles. She later recalled Klimt testing poses and clothing in numerous sketches. The portrait connects a carefully prepared stance with Viennese design culture.