The Ten Greatest Portraits Ever Painted
Ten immortal masterpieces that tower over
all the rest.
As featured in The Artist's
Magazine, Special Porrait Issue, April, 2005 |
 t
will probably be viewed as chutzpa of the most inflated kind
to attempt to identify the ten most important portraits of all time.
But I can report that the experience was relatively simple. Once
the criteria were established, the paintings virtually chose themselves.
To select the greatest portraits, I applied the following four standards:
1. Pervasive, universal, popular recognition. Which portraits
are, and have been, the most widely recognized, loved and admired?
2. Impact on the practice of portraiture. Which paintings
have exerted the strongest influence on the work of other artists?
3. Inherent artistic quality. Which portraits demonstrate
the great traditional attributes of truth and beauty — manifested
in sound draftsmanship, realistic and appealing color, creative
and intelligent design of the composition, and exciting execution
(brushwork).
4. Evoking the reality of the portrait's subject. Which portraits
transmit — to the maximum degree — the character and human
qualities of the subject? Which portraits vibrate with the living
aura of a real human being at a specific moment in time?
These four standards made the job easy. For example, applying number
one immediately filled several of the ten slots. The list, with
the requirement of universal, popular recognition, would demand
Leonardo's Mona Lisa and Whistler's Mother, whatever
we might think of their other qualities. Such a standard would also
require inclusion of Gainsborough's Blue Boy and Lawrence's
Pinkie. We move easily on to Hals' Laughing Cavalier,
and — presto! — one half of our list is complete.
I was absolutely certain that the remaining five slots must be
filled by paintings by Raphael, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Sargent and
Velázquez.
Raphael was easy — the Baldassar Castiglione in the
Louvre is unquestionably that young artist's greatest portrait.
Sargent's greatest is Madame X. Velázquez' mountaintop
is his immortal portrait of Pope Innocent X.
So we were down to choosing a Rembrandt and a Van Dyck. In my view,
the great group composition The Syndics of the Clothmakers' Guild
possesses a rare power, so in it went. And which of so many mighty
Van Dycks? I've chosen the great full-length of Charles 1.
It is Van Dyck at his supreme best.
I will be eager to read your responses to this selection.
| Click here
to view The Ten Greatest Portraits. |
|
 |
|
sanden
commentary index