IN THE BEGINNING of civilisation, there was religious and ritualistic iconography of gods, animals and demons—complex and awe-inspiring, changing according to country, culture and custom. Gradually there were portraits of kings, queens, despots and conquerors, some taken to a god-like status, remote and far-removed from all around them, striking wonder and terror in their subjects.
Portraits were grand, made in mosaic, stone, bronze, stained glass, tempera on hidden walls, and large oil-on-canvas paintings that glistened with sword, armour and heroic action. There are pre-historic portraits of man confronting wild nature in silent caves, funerary images on encaustic coffins bearing the likeness of the deceased, devotional friezes like Emperor Justinian offering myrrh to Jesus in a glittering mosaic in Ravenna, historic portraits of Napoleon crossing the Alps on his horse, wind…
