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PORTRAIT

Volume 15 · 65 words · 1797 Edition

or PORTRAITURE, in painting, the representation of a person, and especially of a face, done from the life. In this sense we use the term portrait-painting, in contradistinction to history-painting, where a resemblance of persons is usually disregarded. Portraits, when as large as the life, are usually painted in oil-colours; sometimes they are painted in miniature with water-colours, crayons, pastils, &c. See PAINTING, p. 641.