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Housewarming gifts with taste: 17 house portraits and prints for a new home

Canaletto, Constable, Monet, Krøyer and Carl Larsson painted houses as if they were people. Seventeen masterworks behind Fable’s home portrait styles: send a photo of the new house and see it painted the same way.

The best housewarming gift is about the house itself. For centuries owners commissioned portraits of their homes, from Canaletto’s views of English castles to Constable’s farms and manors, and they still hang in the houses they show.

Each of the fifteen masterworks below is the starting point of one of Fable’s home portrait styles. Send a photo of the new house, cottage or flat building and see a free preview in that style, or give the original as a print. We have finished with two still lifes, for the new kitchen.

1. Syon House

A grand battlemented country house with a symmetrical facade under a wide pale blue sky.

Canaletto, Syon House, 1749. Oil on canvas.

Canaletto spent nine years in England painting its great houses with the same crystal light he gave Venice. Syon House, by the Thames, is one of the finest.

Best photo: the house straight on, with lawn in front and sky above.

Create your portrait in this style

2. Malvern Hall

A stone manor with tall chimneys behind a lake, framed by dark trees.

John Constable, Malvern Hall, 1821. Oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute.

Constable painted Malvern Hall in Warwickshire for its owner, framing the house between dark trees and still water. It is a house portrait in the truest sense.

Best photo: the house from across a lawn or water.

Create your portrait in this style

3. The Valley Farm

A farmhouse by a river under tall trees, with cattle in the water.

John Constable, The Valley Farm, 1835. Oil on canvas. Tate, London.

Constable’s Valley Farm shows Willy Lott’s house on the River Stour, a building he painted all his life. The style suits a farmhouse or a house surrounded by trees.

Best photo: the house among trees, from a little distance.

Create your portrait in this style

4. The Quarters behind Alresford Hall

A white pavilion with a tiered roof stands at the edge of a glassy lake among trees.

John Constable, The Quarters behind Alresford Hall, 1816. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

Another Constable, painted in 1816: a white Chinese-style pavilion by a lake in Essex. The style suits a summerhouse, a garden room or a house by water.

Best photo: the building from across water or a lawn.

Create your portrait in this style

5. Copped Hall in Essex, from across the Lake

A grand house seen across a lake under a cloudy sky, with tall wind-bent trees.

George Lambert, Copped Hall in Essex, from across the Lake, 1746. Oil on canvas. Tate.

George Lambert was one of the first English painters of country houses, and this 1746 view sets Copped Hall far back across a lake, under a big sky.

Best photo: a wide view with the house in the middle distance.

Create your portrait in this style

6. Albury House, Surrey

A pale manor among great trees in a sweeping English landscape under soft clouds.

Anthony Devis, Albury House, Surrey, 1792. Oil on canvas. Harris Museum, Preston.

Anthony Devis painted Albury House in Surrey in 1792 as a calm, sunny estate among great trees. Gentle and green, it suits any home with a garden.

Best photo: the house in summer with trees beside it.

Create your portrait in this style

7. A Country Home

A brick manor complex with a turret under a cloudy sky, lit by golden evening light.

Jan van der Heyden, A Country Home, 1686. Oil on panel.

Jan van der Heyden painted Dutch buildings brick by brick. His country home glows in late sunlight, every window and gable exact.

Best photo: a brick house in evening light.

Create your portrait in this style

8. Kostverloren House on the Amstel

A ruined brick tower reflected in a river under tall billowing clouds.

Jacob van Ruisdael, Kostverloren House on the Amstel, c. 1660. Oil on canvas. Amsterdam Museum.

Jacob van Ruisdael painted the ruins of Kostverloren House on the Amstel after a fire, beneath one of his magnificent skies. A dramatic style for an old building with character.

Best photo: an old building by water, with plenty of sky.

Create your portrait in this style

9. A Cottage and a Hayrick by a River

A thatched cottage and a hayrick among trees by a river beneath a vast, cloudy sky.

Jacob van Ruisdael, A Cottage and a Hayrick by a River, c. 1648. Oil on oak.

An early Ruisdael: a thatched cottage and its hayrick under a towering sky. Humble houses deserve portraits too.

Best photo: a cottage with trees around it and a big sky.

Create your portrait in this style

10. Old Cottages at Pinner

A path through a meadow of yellow flowers leads to an old thatched cottage.

Helen Allingham, Old Cottages at Pinner, 1890. Watercolour. Birmingham Museums Trust.

Helen Allingham painted English cottages in full bloom in watercolour, and her pictures are still the ideal of the cottage garden.

Best photo: a cottage with a garden and a path in front.

Create your portrait in this style

11. The Cottage (Stugan). From A Home

A red timbered Swedish cottage in an overgrown summer garden.

Carl Larsson, The Cottage (Stugan). From A Home, 1899. Watercolour. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.

Carl Larsson’s watercolour of the family cottage at Sundborn, from his book A Home. Perfect for a red cottage or a summer house.

Best photo: the house from the garden in summer.

Create your portrait in this style

12. The Yard and Washhouse. From A Home

A snowy Swedish yard with red timber buildings and a child pushing a kicksled under a low sun.

Carl Larsson, The Yard and Washhouse. From A Home, 1899. Watercolour. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.

Larsson again, this time in winter: the yard at Sundborn under snow, a child with a kicksled. The style turns your house into a Nordic winter picture.

Best photo: the house in snow, or any clear photo for a winter version.

Create your portrait in this style

13. A Cart on the Snowy Road at Honfleur

A horse-drawn cart on a snowy road past farm buildings under an overcast winter sky.

Claude Monet, A Cart on the Snowy Road at Honfleur, 1865. Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Young Monet painted this snowy road near Honfleur in 1865, before Impressionism had a name. Soft whites and greys for a winter house portrait.

Best photo: the house from the road, ideally in winter.

Create your portrait in this style

14. Villa on a Moonlit Night

A gabled wooden villa under a deep blue night sky, its windows glowing orange.

Peder Severin Krøyer, Villa on a Moonlit Night, 1872. Oil on canvas.

Krøyer painted this villa at night, warm light pouring from its windows into the blue. It is the feeling of coming home.

Best photo: the house at dusk with the lights on.

Create your portrait in this style

15. Schloss Milkel in Moonlight

A dark estate half hidden by twisted trees under a bright full moon and heavy clouds.

Carl Gustav Carus, Schloss Milkel in Moonlight, 1833–35. Oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Carl Gustav Carus, friend of Caspar David Friedrich, painted this Saxon castle under a full moon. The most romantic way to paint a house.

Best photo: the house behind trees; the style adds the moonlight.

Create your portrait in this style

16. Still Life with Apples and Pears

Apples and pears on a rumpled white cloth beside a jug.

Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Apples and Pears, ca. 1891–92. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Cézanne’s apples and pears, painted around 1891, changed how painters saw the world. The style made from it paints fruit from your own kitchen table.

For the new kitchen: photograph a bowl of fruit and see it painted like a Cézanne.

Create your portrait in this style

17. Still Life: Corner of a Table

A cup and saucer, a glass with a single primrose and a silver spoon on the corner of a table.

Henri Fantin-Latour, Still Life: Corner of a Table, 1873. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago.

Fantin-Latour painted the corner of a table: a cup, a spoon, a single flower in a glass. It is the quietest picture here and perhaps the most beautiful.

A lovely first picture for a breakfast nook.

Create your portrait in this style

Take the photo on a bright day, from far enough back that the whole house fits with a little garden or sky around it. Then choose the masterwork whose mood suits the house, and see the free preview before you order.

Questions

What is a good housewarming gift?

Something that marks the house as theirs: a portrait of the new home made from a photo, or a print of a painting that suits its style. It is personal and will hang there for years.

What photo do I need for a house portrait?

A clear daytime photo with the whole building in view, taken straight on or slightly from the side. Avoid cars, bins and scaffolding where you can; trees and garden help.

Does it work for a flat or an apartment building?

Yes. Choose a style with strong architecture, such as Canaletto’s Syon House or Rørbye’s Royal Palace, and use a photo of the whole building from across the street.