Paintings, furniture, and photos that the artist gifted to his childhood best friend are being exhibited ahead of an auction ...

A good portrait not only captures a likeness, but the person’s spirit, says Susan Durkee of Redding, adding, “It is that sense of spirit that viewers respond to, that gives them pleasure when they ...

Before she even appears in the 1944 film noir classic Laura, Laura Hunt is an obsession for the hardboiled police detective, who is mesmerized with the supposedly dead woman through her portrait. The ...

No, reader, this is not a centuries-old painting of a shotgun wedding. Despite appearances, the woman in green is not believed to be pregnant. Art historians, in truth, have not come to many ...

For the first time in history, all of Van Eyck’s surviving portraits—nearly half of his entire known output—will be displayed together at London’s National Gallery. Jan van Eyck, Margaret, the ...

Gustav Klimt’s "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" was seized by the Nazis and was almost ruined in a fire during World War II Sam Gillette is a Staff Writer on the Human Interest team at PEOPLE. She ...

With some key examples, according to four curators and three historians.

Art history is filled with examples of the powerful and the wealthy communicating their status through portraiture. Not just sovereigns, but military leaders, aristocrats, and champions of industry.

When Vincent Van Gogh was low on money he took to painting on both sides of the canvas, but over the years some of his reverse side paintings were covered up and lost. Now, another of his hidden ...

Detail of a Fayum funerary portrait that will go up for sale at Sotheby's New York as part of its Old Masters sales. - Courtesy Sotheby's A funerary portrait from Roman Egypt, featuring a strikingly ...