Portraiture
FRANCISCO DE GOYA
Visionary Spanish painter,
draftsman, and printmaker.
Goya's works include many
royal and society portraits,
historical, religious, and secular
narratives, and social and
political commentaries. This
enlargement of his miniature
portrait reveals the speed
and agility of his pen and
his changes in pressure and
length of line. It also reminds
us of both the intimacy and
scrutiny of an honest portrait.Self-Portrait in a Cocked Hat
c. 1790-92
4 x 3 in (102 x 76 mm)
FRANCISCO DE GOYA
IN PORTRAITURE WE MEET PEOPLE, usually strangers from past times, who, having been
documented and preserved, look directly at us, or past us, or whose eyes can seem to
follow us around the room Portraiture is a constant, live, and lucrative genre for artists.
The truth is that we all like looking at faces and observing the billions of variations that
make us individuals. We are also reassured by keeping records of ourselves. Halls and
palaces are filled with pictures of the mighty and significant. Our homes are filled with
images of our loved ones and of those in our families who have gone before.
Past rulers sent painters across continents to bring back a likeness in advance of
a prospective royal marriage. The returning image was of crucial consideration in any
proposal. Portraits can be highly or loosely detailed, single or of groups, abstract
or figurative, and satirical or metaphorical. We can mold and animate qualities of
expression out of objects and fragments of disassociated things—for example, Man
Ray's self-portrait of scored lines, bells, buttons, and a handprint (see p.139). To create
a face is to see and interpret the essence of an identity. When drawing a person, the
meaning of their face, their stance, and their posture can be changed with just one
line. Equally, a single line can deliver an entire expression.
Goya, in a miniature self-portrait magnified opposite, gathered all that he knew
about himself, and in a few scrolling rafts of pen lines and stubbled dots, is here
to both meet and look through us. Self-portraiture gives every artist a constant,
compliant subject to scrutinize. Rembrandt's famous multitude of self-portraits, made
as he passed through the ages of man, became more poignant as he progressed. For
centuries, painters have dropped discreet records of themselves into commissioned
narratives so that they can remain a face in the crowd. Movie director Alfred
Hitchcock similarly signed his films by playing a fleeting role: he walks through
a scene as an extra, or a glimpse of him is caught in a photograph used as a prop.
Beginners often draw themselves as a way of establishing their practice, and it is
very rewarding. In this chapter, we use the delicate medium of silver point to look at
foundation structures of the head, neck, throat, and shoulders. Once you understand
and memorize the basic structure that we all share, you can capture the subtlety,
character, and expression of the individual.