for the love of antique portraits…

by | Sep 5, 2022 | All Things Home, Antiques, Art, Favorite Finds | 34 comments

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One thing I want more of in our next home is antique portraits (or studies of new old portraits.)  I have always loved how antique portraits look in a home, so when I first started working with oil paints about five years ago, I imagined painting portraits to hang in my house.  It took me a while to get there, but I eventually did a master study of Manet’s Morisot and I was hooked.  She wasn’t perfect and certainly not as masterful as Manet’s version, but she was an original oil portrait painting hanging in my house.  I even had an antique frame that fit her perfectly.

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

I then had a chance to work with French Art Shop and ordered an antique portrait of a young boy.  I always thought that antique oil portraits were wildly expensive (and they can be), but they can also be a reasonable investment.  Something equivalent to a piece of furniture, but not in the thousands of dollars.  This was enough encouragement for me to start looking for more antique portraits online and when I was at antique stores.

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

I found this gorgeous large antique portrait from Ukraine a few weeks ago.  I love the impressionist style and the colors.  And this one is large!  I’m hoping I can find a new frame to fit her or perhaps have Jeff cut one for me.

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

My dad speaks fluent Russian, so he was able to translate the writing on the back for me.

“The Portrait of a Student”

Kyiv Art Institute

paint, board, oils 1957

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

I’ve also been hunting for antique frames to use for portraits I have painted.  This one is a small 8 x 10 master study of a William Bouguereau painting and it is definitely elevated in a gilt frame.

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

I found this antique oil portrait last week when my mom and I were out visiting antique stores.  I know this one might be a little questionable for some, but it’s an original 1800s portrait in an antique frame for less than $100!  Even though the portrait is a bit unfinished, the head is rendered beautifully.  It was definitely painted by a skilled artist and I loved this work better than some that were more than ten times the price.

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

And, sometimes, with these antique portraits, I like the backs as much as the paintings themselves.  The back is where you can see the age and the craftsmanship of the paint and the frame.  Just look at that beautiful patina!

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

I also love the little details like the artist’s information and the wedges that tighten the canvas.

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

I also found this antique portrait on Etsy a few weeks ago and couldn’t resist this woman’s gentle facial expression, her ruffled collar, and the crackled paint surface.  I think I got her for a better price because of the crackles, but they are part of what I love about this particular antique portrait.

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

And this one has a lovely signature…

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

I believe this is an antique German oil portrait from the 1800s.

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

And, again, the back is just amazing, showing the handmade frame and stretched canvas.

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

I looked up some of this writing and didn’t find much, but my readers did help me with it!  I believe Conrad Lotz was the gallery/interior designer in Vienna (Wien) and the bottom is a street address.  VHI Alserstrasse 59, maybe?  It looks like the artist’s signature reads R Orenberg, possibly.  Any other ideas?

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

I have had to resist buying more pieces of art until I know how much wall space I have!  I have collected quite a few frames for my own work and have lots of textiles and old pieces of paper to frame as well.  As much as I’m excited about decorating a new home, I think the thing I’m most excited about is hanging all of the art!  I started to embrace the title of artist in our last house, but that didn’t quite spill out onto my walls.  I felt hesitant to hang my own work.  In this next house, that is going to change.

antique oil portraits | favorite things | miss mustard seed

I know some people find antique portraits creepy and I do understand that.  But, I don’t think they are creepy when you collect pieces that speak to you.  There is something in the painting that feels familiar and draws you in.  All art has to do that really.  Then it becomes personal and important.  All artists who are considered great became that way because one person felt that way about their works and then it grew from there.

Any other lovers of antique portraits out there?  Or do you fall in the creepy camp?

 

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    34 Comments

    1. Mary

      Not creepy at all! The portrait of the baby is absolutely lovely!

    2. Keating Ward

      I too have fallen in love with them. It started when I found a beautiful large one at an estate sale for $100. ??

    3. Cindy

      I think these are wonderful. I especially love the one of the child. The face and skin look like something Bouguereau would’ve painted.

    4. Christie

      I’ve collected them for more than 10 years, and tend to give them fake names if there isn’t a plaque with their name attached to the frame haha. I love them! I keep mine to 2 rooms hung in groupings. I’m extremely picky about them, but cannot explain the type I like… when I like it I like it!

    5. Nicole

      I definitely don’t think they are creepy! Antique death/post mortem portraits, yes. Portraits of people when they were living, no. You have found some lovely antique ones, and I look forward to seeing more of your originals!

    6. Carol D Normand

      Love your selections. I have one of a little girl and it is my treasure.

      • Chrissy

        I have loved portraits since childhood- my sister loved horses and drew them constantly, I drew faces .
        I think your talent & skill as a painter has grown quickly with so much practise and its inspiring me to work intentionally at my art practise
        .But creating what you actually want to hang on your own wall is another thing – I love old paintings and faces so why not emulate those in our own art ?Feels like freedom to me !.I love your choices those you’ve copied and those you’ve ‘found’.

    7. Theresa

      I, too, love antique portraits especially in limited palettes. I am currently working on a master study in oil of a Valesquez portrait.

    8. Babs

      I love antique oil portraits! (The baby you purchased is quite lovely.) When we bought our old antebellum house to restore we also bought some of the furnishings. Amongst the items was an oil portrait of a lovely woman. It wasn’t perfect and had a burned place on the bottom but that didn’t bother us. When we sold the home we sold it furnished as a b&b. The portrait was in the living room over the fireplace…we gave her the best spot in the house. We were so disappointed when we were invited to return to the b&b for an open house that she was gone…not just relocated…totally gone. If we had known they didn’t want her we would have kept her. I was always afraid to ask where she went.

    9. Mayanna

      Many European artists painted portraits for income. Gustav Klimt is an example of an Austrian artist who painted wealthy residents as a livelihood. Example: The Woman in Gold.

    10. Addie

      NO!!! NOT creepy….love them all. I like all your choices too. Especially the crackles. I only wish I had more wall space to fill up. I have had to resort to “seasonal rotating” around.
      Okay….could you just move already?…the suspense is killing me!!! I know it will be awesome!!!

      • Evelyn Fear

        I do seasonal rotating of much of my artwork; not the portraits, though, as they stay out all the seasons, but the Billy Jacobs’ type of artwork changes out with the seasons–Spring, Summer/patriotic, Fall, Christmas, and after-Christmas Winter. That does work VERY WELL, and you never get bored with your walls that way, I might add. I actually live in a 1000 square foot townhome, but it has more wall space than a lot of much bigger homes do, I think, and I tend to do gallery wall displays. Back stairwell wall, tiny foyer, hallways, and rooms–even my downstairs bathroom has artwork hanging in it. Upstairs because of the steam from the shower I have metal kind of farmhouse tray/plate decor on the walls.

    11. Mary S

      I love all of your recent purchases. But the baby in the oval frame is the very best!! Your taste and mine are so similar. I’m loving everything you got. I have one very old oil… it’s an elderly gentleman and he’s probably my favorite. I found it in London. And will NOT part with it. Good eye! Thanks so much for sharing them. I enjoy seeing what you’ve purchased!!

    12. Ann C

      I’m with Addie in not having enough wall space! Also love the lady with all the crackles. Not so much for that but the look in her eyes and dark circles under them. She may be a relative of mine. Adored the baby portrait and wondered what was “unfinished”. It truly is in the eye of the beholder. I tend to collect landscapes, especially trees and water. Thank you for sharing all you do.

    13. Dawn Harris

      I love portraiture and include in that love what I consider animal portraiture (just the head.) One of my favorites is one of a cow I bought at an estate sale. The artist was able to perfectly capture her soft brown eye. I have enjoyed seeing your dogs portraits recently but do not have any of our dogs. I think I will have to do that one day. I do not own any human oil portraiture of anyone not in our family but have old (late 19th-early 20th century) photographs I just picked up here and there. We give them honorary family names like Great-Great-Great Aunt Hortense and make up stories about them. I would think that would be fun to do with oil portraits, too. You found some beautiful pieces!

    14. Beverlee

      They are all lovely, but the one I love best is the first one you painted. I was so impressed when I saw it.
      I have loved seeing your progress. Actually, it’s pretty amazing.

    15. Kathryn Casey

      I’d welcome your advice on looking for art online. There are so many posted on Etsy, it’s overwhelming to me!

    16. Jean

      My father’s parents were both artists on the Isle of Man at the start of the 20th century. I have several portraits done by my grandfather and love them all. I also have several landscape and interior watercolors done by my grandmother. I have no idea who the people were or where the places are but they speak to me clearly as encouragement and motivation to keep trying to improve my own practice. That and they are unusual in today’s decor practices. All the more to love!

    17. Evelyn Fear

      I fell in love with primitive portraits a year, or so ago, and started buying some pretty realistic reproductions of those on ETSY. Also, found some lovely frames there that look very much like the golden brass frames I’ve seen original portraits in at a good price. I found that they “play very nicely” intermixed with my more farmhouse artwork–mostly Billy Jacobs’ prints.
      There was a time, when I first started turning towards a love for primitives of any kind, when I wasn’t so sure about the portraits, but I now LOVE them!!!! They aren’t everyone’s taste, though, as I’ve had people say that they just don’t “get” why I’d want portraits of people I didn’t know lining my walls, so it’s one of those “to each his own things.” Some LOVE them, some don’t, and some are kind of indifferent to them.

    18. Linda Charlton

      I have recently fallen in love with them as well. I am out of wall space now so it’s hard to find a place to hang them.

    19. judith

      I second the motion for you to do a post on selecting art online! Great idea Kathryn Casey! Many of us would be interested in knowing more. I, too, am fascinated by old portraits. You are showing these people respect by honoring them in your home. The baby portrait is beautiful and I can see what attracted you to it. I have always loved that first portrait you did; yes, you SHOULD hang your own art in your home! Thank you for another interesting post.

    20. mary m

      I have a small painting of my Ancestor Antonia Retzert. c. 1820 Munich.
      My mother felt that it was painted by an itenerate painter wh0 just put the face on a prepainted body. It is very sweet.

    21. Lynette

      The printing on the back of your crackled lady portrait has an address around the bottom for Alserstrasse 5? in Vienna (Wien). My guess for the name across the top is Conrad Lotz, and perhaps the middle is ‘something’ and decorator (und dekorateur). Maybe someone with better German than me can work it out. I can’t wait to see your new home and what you do with it.

      • Marian Parsons

        I figured out the name and address, but I forgot that Wien was Vienna! Thank you!

    22. DeeDee

      We were visiting our son and family in CO. and visited an antique shop. I found a picture of a very sweet lady. I’m sure she “lost” her frame because someone wanted it for another picture. I paid $5.00 for her and we had a frame which worked for her. I call her “Aunt Agatha.”

    23. Denise P

      I always look at paintings in antique stores but have never seen any I could imagine in my house (or they were too expensive for really great ones. ) You have found some beautiful ones. I am jealous. I collect antique photos and have some fabulous ones but most were not found in antique stores

    24. Lynnett Ratchford

      Love the portraits; love what you are purchasing. Thanks for raising awareness and giving us inspiration. The baby is my favorite.

    25. Diana

      Re: the antique German portrait. The stamp on the back has “Wien”, which is the German name for Vienna.

    26. Jill Rinner

      I love portraits so much too! You have a wonderful collection. I still remember too many that I have not purchased in the past, and it just pains me. Of course, wherever I saw them (estate sale, flea market. etc.) were places I could not go back to once I realized my regret. I can’t wait to see where they all end up in your next home.

    27. Karen B.

      Marian,
      That portrait of a child is beautiful. The little face is well done. You have such a good eye for art. I have always loved your Manet portrait. You do such lovely work.
      I hope your home search will be successful soon. Patience is a good thing but I’m sure you’re eager to be settled again.
      Karen B.

    28. BeverlyO

      I laughed when I read that some people think old portraits are creepy. We have a portrait of my husband’s great, great grandmother that is a bust which is almost life-sized. His mother told me that the lady who used to clean her house when my husband was a little boy thought the portrait was scary and her eyes followed her around while she was cleaning. So, she would put a towel over it when she cleaned the room the portrait was hanging in. I was so excited to get it, brought it home and propped it up in a chair in the den. When I went back into the den after dinner that night, there was a towel draped over it. My husband had learned that technique from the cleaning lady, Martha!

    29. Rita

      You have found some treasures. I have a few vintage landscapes. They are not too old – I’m guessing the 70s. One is a seascape that has a couple of tree covered cliffs. Paid less than $20 for it, but i just loved the water and frame. When I got home, I realized one of the hills is actually unfinished. It is just a brown hill with no trees. Didn’t notice that when i was in the store. I laughed and hung it over my bed anyway. One of these days I may finish it. I’m always checking out the art when I’m in antique stores but haven’t bought any portraits yet. I too have limited wall space.

    30. Kim

      The baby portrait is positively luminous! And now you know for sure that you do not want to buy an open-concept house, because you’ll have fewer walls to hang portraits! I have been thinking about how the people whose portraits were painted so long ago probably never envisioned that hundreds of years later their portraits would hang in stranger’s homes, still being enjoyed and loved. It’s a testament to the ties of pure humanity that unite us all.

    31. Aarsun Woods Furiture

      Antique portraits are always superb, once antique always antique when its come to new it has short term trend..

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