There is a reason why artists paint portraits, and this reason is different for each style. Some artists strive to convey the inner world, emotions of a common man – that is sentimentalism. Some artists only portray strong people who will not rest until the world grants them what they deserve, such artists do not fall for…

mediocre or everyday people and ideas; they study the power of man and nature, the timelessness of the spirit, living on the edge – those are romanticists. Or a portrait may be symbolic and contain some codes through which the metempirical reality, the universe reveals itself, and the viewer receives the key to the riddles of life, and that is symbolism. So, what’s different in classicism? The individuality is kept to a minimum. The artist is not interested in the personality of the model and his artistic intent goes far beyond conveying individual quality of a person for the viewer. Classicism puts the moral imperative before the individual desires, the reason triumphs over passion. And people are depicted just the way to radiate this supremacy of the universal order and the moral imperative. Men are usually upper-class, but it’s not the wealthiness or manners that come to the fore, but the commitment to moral obligations and the public service, the merit and the honor, the responsibility that comes with great power. And so, the simple allegories, the setting and secondary objects are always easy to interpret once you know what to look for. Same is true for women in the classicist portraits – you won’t see any emotional turmoil, no frown lines on the face caused by daily routine. A woman is the very picture of virtue, purity and maternity. No excessive beauty, no hideousness, no playful peculiarities – these have nothing to do with the higher purpose of people’s life.  The same principles, but updated from the contemporary perspective are followed by academists and neo-classicists.