Composed of 肖像 ('a likeness; a portrait') + 画 ('picture, painting'). The character 肖 carries the meaning 'to resemble', so 肖像 is literally 'a likeness'. The compound 肖像画 specifies that this likeness takes the form of a painting or drawing.
USAGE:
The word is used about painted, drawn, or sometimes printed pictures of a specific person. It is a standard term in:
- art history and museum contexts
- discussions of classical European, Chinese, and Japanese painting
- biographies and historical writing, when describing how a particular figure was depicted
For photographic portraits, Japanese uses 肖像写真, ポートレート, or simply 写真. The related word 肖像権 ('portrait rights, the right to one's likeness') is the standard legal term for the right to control one's image, including in photographs and videos.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 肖像画を描く: to paint a portrait
- 肖像画を依頼する: to commission a portrait
- 肖像画を飾る: to display a portrait
- 肖像画家: a portrait painter
- 王の肖像画: a portrait of a king
- 歴代の肖像画: portraits of successive (rulers, presidents, etc.)
- 油彩の肖像画: an oil portrait
- 肖像画を所蔵する: (a museum) to hold a portrait in its collection
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 自画像: self-portrait — a portrait painted by the artist of themselves.
- 肖像: a likeness, a portrait — the broader word; can refer to a painting, photograph, or any visual representation of a specific person.
- 肖像権: portrait rights, image rights — the legal right to control one's likeness; an important concept in modern privacy and media law.
- 似顔絵: a sketch portrait, caricature — a quick, often simplified or stylized drawing of a person, sometimes light or humorous in tone, made by street artists or for fun.
- ポートレート: portrait (loanword) — used mainly in modern photography and design contexts.
- 肖像写真: portrait photograph — the photographic equivalent of 肖像画.
- 人物画: figure painting — a broader category of art that depicts human figures, not necessarily of an identifiable individual.
CULTURAL NOTE:
The Japanese pictorial tradition includes a distinctive type of portrait called 似絵, a Kamakura-period style of realistic portraiture of high-ranking aristocrats and warriors. The famous portrait commonly identified as Minamoto no Yoritomo is a classic example. From the Edo period onward, woodblock prints (浮世絵) of Kabuki actors and beauties served as another form of mass-produced portraiture.