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Small Antique Portrait Paintings

About this collection

The small portrait was the format of the private room, painted on panel or on a fine canvas to be looked at from a few feet away rather than across a hall.

Size changed the way a face was painted. These small antique portraits run from the 17th century to the 19th, officers in uniform, gentlemen in high stocks and top hats, ladies in their jewels and heads studied from life, most of them framed and several in their period mouldings.

Portrait of Emperor Joseph II, 19th century Austrian School oil on canvas, in a gilt frame

Austrian School, 19th century

Emperor Joseph II, 1800s
$2,900
Signed oil study by Marcellin Desboutin of a laughing boy in a working shirt, in a gilt wood frame

Marcellin Desboutin (1823-1902)

Laughing Boy
$4,900Signed
Young man in a dark coat and high white cravat against a grey ground, small early nineteenth century French oil portrait in its original gilt bead frame

French School, early 19th century

Young Man in a High Stock
$1,900
Corchon y Diaque portrait of a woman with a wine-red silk ribbon in her hair, oil on panel in a carved giltwood frame with water leaf ornament

Corchon y Diaque (1853-1925)

Woman in a Wine-Red Silk Cap
$5,700Signed

Guides · before you buy

Emperors, Officers and the Symbols They WoreA double-headed eagle, a golden ram on a ribbon, a white coat.Read the guidePeriod Copies After the Old MastersA photograph reproduces an image.Read the guide
Portrait of a hussar officer in pale blue dolman with black fur pelisse and a silver breast star, early 19th century Austrian oil on canvas in a period gilt frame

Austrian School, early 19th century

Hussar Officer in Blue, 1800s
$2,900
Seventeenth century German School portrait of a man in a plain white linen collar against a black ground, oil on panel in a deep gilt frame

German School, 17th century

Man in a White Collar, 1600s
$8,900
Portrait of a Habsburg archduke in the white uniform of the Austrian army with the Golden Fleece and the Maria Theresa star, Austrian school circa 1800, in a gilt frame

Austrian School, circa 1800

Archduke in White Uniform
$3,200
Early 19th century officer in a dark green coat with a pale blue sash and silver star, oil on canvas in a moulded gilt frame

Austrian School, early 19th century

Officer with Sash and Star
$2,900
 The school Austrian Biedermeier1815 to 1848Vienna, precise portraits, and the Habsburg court.Discover the school
Portrait of a young Austrian officer in white uniform with the Golden Fleece, Austrian school oil on canvas, early 19th century, in a wide gilt frame

Austrian School, early 19th century

Officer with the Golden Fleece
$2,700
Antique English portrait of a man in a tall black top hat and white stock, oil on canvas in a carved gilt frame

English School, early 19th century

Man in a Top Hat, 1800s
$2,600
Habsburg portrait of a lady with jeweled tiara and red shawl, early 19th century oil in gilt frame

Austrian School, early 19th century

Lady with a Jeweled Tiara, 1800s
$3,400
Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, after Anthony van Dyck, seated in a ruff and black cloak, 19th century oil on panel

European School, 19th century

Earl of Arundel, after van Dyck
$2,800
Portrait of a Habsburg officer in white Austrian uniform with orders, oil in gilt frame

Austrian School, early 19th century

Habsburg Officer, 1800s
$2,900

GalerieClub Fine Art

1,100+

paintings sold since 2017

Poppy Fields, late 1800sSold Poppy Fields, late 1800s Hagar and Ishmael, 1700sSold Hagar and Ishmael, 1700s Penitent Magdalene, 1600sSold Penitent Magdalene, 1600s

Our promise

  • Every painting photographed front and back
  • The frame you see is the frame that ships
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New paintings, by email

A note when new paintings come in. Nothing else.

Elsewhere in the gallery

Small antique portrait paintings for sale at GalerieClub

A portrait did not have to fill a wall to matter. Families wanted likenesses they could keep in a private room, send to a relative or take with them on a journey, and painters answered with small antique oil portraits finished to be seen at arm's length. This collection gathers portraits of that scale painted more than a century ago.

  • A cabinet was once a small private room, not a piece of furniture. Collectors kept their most personal pictures there, and a cabinet portrait is a likeness sized for that room, rarely larger than a sheet of paper. Its small scale forced precision in the face and the hands, where a large portrait could rely on setting and costume.

  • Panel suited the small portrait. A smooth board of oak or another hardwood takes a thin paint layer and fine detail without the texture of canvas, and a small portrait painting on wood panel from the 17th century often shows a sitter in dark dress and a white collar against a plain ground, with the joins and battens of its age on the back.

  • Officers had small portraits painted in the uniform of their regiment, with the sash and the star of an order when they had earned one. Many of these belong to the Austrian court tradition gathered in our collection of Habsburg portraits.

  • Not every small portrait was a commission. Painters also made quick head studies of a model or a child, laughing, turning or caught mid-gesture, and a small oil study painted from life keeps a speed and a freedom that a finished portrait rarely allows.