portraitist

American  

[pawr-tri-tist, -trey-, pohr-] / ˈpɔr trɪ tɪst, -treɪ-, ˈpoʊr- /

noun

1. a person who makes portraits.

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portraitist British  

/ -treɪ-, ˈpɔːtrɪtɪst /

noun

1. an artist, photographer, etc, who specializes in portraits

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Etymology

Origin of portraitist

First recorded in 1865–70; portrait + -ist

Example Sentences

In 1778 John Singleton Copley, the American émigré artist, fresh from a successful career as a colonial portraitist, turned to this scene.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025

For more than 80 years, the location of late-baroque Italian portraitist Giuseppe Ghislandi's painting of the Contessa Colleoni had been unknown until now.

From BBC • Aug. 27, 2025

It’s no surprise that George Eliot, the great portraitist of unhappy Victorian couples, did marriage her own way.

From New York Times • Jun. 9, 2023

But the image that haunts me from this show is a simple painting by the portraitist Jordan Casteel, called “Fendi.”

From Washington Post • Apr. 7, 2023

He is a portraitist doubled by a psychologist.

From Unicorns by Huneker, James