Senior Portraits

At one time senior portraits were extremely common among the gentry of various countries, in part to boast of ancestry, while other senior portraits were simply a conventional tribute to senior family members. Senior portraits commissioned from popular artists were usually painted in oils, although very early senior portraits may have been executed in tempera before oil paints came into common use. Senior portraits could be taken to mean, in most cases, simply mature relatives or ancestors. The term " senior citizen" has come into use relatively recently.

Before photography became commonplace, senior portraits were the only way of preserving likenesses of family members. Of course not only senior portraits were commissioned, but portraits of children and younger family members. With the advent and improvement of photography, it no longer became necessary to commission artists to create senior portraits.

Today, photographs, usually studio photographs, are the most common form of senior portrait. As family members grow older, some people suddenly feel they want a photographic senior portrait with which to remember older family members. Sometimes a senior portrait will include other family members in a group photograph. Other times, a senior portrait will be a carefully created portrait of the senior.

Although photography is a common approach to senior portraits, there are still many instances where senior portraits are commissioned with local or even nationally known artists creating a senior portrait. Such commissioned senior portraits can be quite expensive if a known artist executes them. These senior portraits are most often executed using oil paints, and are sometimes elaborately framed. Senior portraits are also often done of famous people, particularly major executives or persons important in government or large institutions. Such senior portraits often become public property or the properby of the government or institutions in which the person functioned.

Although senior portraits are most often created using oil paints, considered to be the most permanent medium, senior portraits can be executed using acrylic paints, watercolors, oil pastels, and even more perishable media as charcoal or soft pastels. The medium used is probably the choice of the artist when executing a senior portrait if the person ordering the senior portrait does not specify the medium. In any case, a senior portrait can be a long term reminder and tribute to the senior portrayed, either to family members and friends, or to the general public if the senior portrait portrays a person whose legacy is important.

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