Gregorio del Pilar

A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representations of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The
intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.

That great wit Oscar Wilde wrote: “Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”10 That paradoxical statement should
find its truth in the numerous portraits done by Fernando Amorsolo, incontrovertibly the country’s most prominent portraitist. It was Amorsolo’s name that was instantaneously considered by Philippine presidents and statesmen and the business and social movers of the land when considering a portrait commission. Thus, he held the distinction of being Philippine high society’s one and only portraitist of choice.