Portrait painting has been a popular genre of painting for centuries. Most artists have created at least a few portrait paintings during their careers. However, some painters are only known because of their famous portrait paintings.
In many instances, the names of the people depicted in the famous portrait paintings are known, but there is often no more information available about these persons. This lack of information sometimes leads to speculation by art lovers and scholars about the relationship between the artist and the subject.
And then there are portrait paintings where nothing is known about the person in the portrait or why it has been painted. Art historians are always searching for the story behind the portrait. We’ve looked at some famous portrait paintings’ “stories” and gladly share them with you.
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
Let’s start with the Mona Lisa story – probably the most famous portrait in art history. The “Mona Lisa” was created by the incredible Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci in 1506. The painting depicts a half-length portrait of a seated, smiling woman in a room overlooking a natural landscape. The young woman lacks eyebrows and eyelashes, and it seems to be tracking you as the viewer with her eyes wherever you go.
The identity of the depicted woman remained a mystery for centuries. In 2005, however, art scholars discovered documentation identifying her as Lisa del Giocondo (née Gherardini), a Florentine noblewoman. According to the found documents, the portrait was commissioned by her husband, a well-known merchant at the time.
There are several “Mona Lisa” portraits (reproduced) around the world. It is assumed to be the most copied work in western art. The original one, however, is hanging in the Louvre in Paris.
Girl With A Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer
“Girl with a Pearl Earring” portrays an unknown girl. According to art lovers and scholars, she belongs to no specific time or place. The young woman in this painting looks over her shoulder to gaze, like Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” at the viewer, and it also seems as if her eyes are following the viewer.
This painting depicts a very “mysterious” young woman. Many art scholars have questioned her true identity. The commonest theory is that the subject is Maria Vermeer, the painter’s eldest daughter. However, several scholars still doubt this, and while this oil painting is often considered a powerful portrait, it’s not technically a portrait. It is a tronie. A tronie is a study of unnamed subjects for “portraits.” Thus, Vermeer deliberately didn’t indicate who the subject could be.
Madame X by Jon Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was a famous American artist best known for his aristocratic famous portrait paintings of the wealthy in England and America. One of his most famous art portraits is “Madame X.” Sargent tried to keep the woman’s identity in the painting a secret, but ultimately it became common knowledge who she was.
The woman in the painting was the fashionable Madame Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau. She was an American socialite, married a French banker, and resided in Paris. Madame Gautreau was pleased with the portrait, but it caused controversy when it was exhibited in Paris in 1884 because she was wearing provocative clothing according to the dress code of the time. Her relaxed pose was also criticized.
Woman With A Hat by Henri Matisse
In 1905, Henri Matisse painted “Woman with a Hat.” It is a beautiful portrait of his wife- Amélie. She owned a hat shop in real life, and Matisse wanted to capture that in the portrait painting.
Amélie was also her husband’s manager, but his obsession with his artworks eventually drove them apart after more than 40 years of marriage.
Though they separated in 1939, their romantic and working relationships are captured forever by the portrait “Woman with a Hat.”
American Gothic by Grant Wood
Wood inspired this portrait when he saw a Neo-Gothic home in Eldon, Iowa, that he wanted to paint. He included the kind of people he thought should be living in that house to set the scene.
Grant Wood painted “American Gothic” in 1930. Many art lovers assume that the somber-looking man and woman are based on a real-life farmer and wife.
But actually, Wood used his younger sister, Nan Wood Graham, and a dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby, as models. But although Wood used “non-farmers” as models, he intended that the pair should represent a father and his daughter.
Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol
As an essential role player in the Pop Art Movement, Andy Warhol found Monroe an inexhaustible source of inspiration. So he was shocked when the actress and singer were seen to have killed herself in 1962.
He then created a series of portraits of Monroe. These portraits originated from a photo from an advert for the film “Niagara.” Monroe appeared in black and white with a frozen smile in the photo. However, Warhol colors her face and enhances her makeup in his silkscreen prints.
At times the coloring can look like an authentic depiction of her, but other versions are harsh on the eye. This set of portraits was Warhol’s way of honoring Marilyn Monroe’s life and work in Hollywood during the 1950s and 60s.
Portrait Of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt
“Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” is a portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. She was a wealthy Jewish woman from Vienna. It is believed that she was either a friend or the mistress of Klimt. She and her husband, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, had a collection of over 400 works of art. “Ferdinand commissioned a portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” as a present for his in-laws.
When Adele died, there was controversy regarding the painting. She declared in her will that the painting should go to the Austrian State Gallery in Vienna. Her brother-in-law, however, considered this only as a request and decided to keep it in the family.
The portrait was often loaned to museums and galleries for exhibitions and was stolen by the Nazis in 1941. After the war, it was placed in the Vienna Österreichische Galerie Belvedere.
It stayed in the Galerie until it was returned to the Bloch-Bauer family in 2006. They later sold it for $135 million.
Conclusion
Portrait paintings are not only beautiful and inspiring to look at, but often have interesting stories or legends behind them. It might be stories about the subjects or the reasons for creating the art portraits.
