THE HISTORY OF ROMANIA IN 100 PORTRAITS

“In the 17th century, in establishing a hierarchy of the painting genres, the French Royal Academy placed the portrait in second place (after the paintings on historical subjects), which only served to confirm its growing importance. Because the portrait has had a very special place in art history and has meant much more than a simple recording of a character’s physiognomy. Portraits were used to convey the characteristics of the subject (status, wealth, physical and intellectual traits, etc.) and the artistic abilities of the creator, as well as to provide access to social, cultural or political information from a particular moment in history. It is not surprising that portraiture is the only genre of painting that has its own dedicated galleries and has provided inspiration for countless major exhibitions. Even if portraiture does not have as long a tradition in Romania as in Western Europe (it was only in late 18th century and early 19th century that we made the transition from the votive portrait, subjected to the canons of Mediaeval religious painting, to the easel portrait, of Western inspiration), this does not mean that we lack valuable and original works.” (Dr. Cornel Ilie)