Turn a photo into a painting: 12 old-master styles to choose from
From Renoir’s Madame Charpentier to Sargent’s Miss Beatrice Townsend, twelve real masterworks, each the original behind a Fable portrait style you can send your photo to.
There is a difference between a photo with a painting effect and a portrait in the manner of a master. The first changes the texture. The second changes everything: the light, the pose, the clothes, the setting and the colours, so that you look as if you had sat for Renoir or Van Dyck.
Every Fable portrait style is built on one real masterwork, and the twelve below are some of the most loved. Each one is shown as it hangs in its museum. Under it you can order the original as a print, or send your own photo to that style and see a free preview of yourself, your family or your pet painted the same way.
1. Madame Charpentier and Her Children
Auguste Renoir, Madame Charpentier and Her Children, 1878. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The painting that made Renoir’s name at the Salon of 1879. Madame Charpentier, wife of a Paris publisher, sits in her Japanese-style drawing room with her two children dressed alike in blue, one of them sitting on the family’s Newfoundland. It is a family portrait that feels like a moment of real life.
For: a parent with children, and the family dog if you have one.
Create your portrait in this style
2. Sophie Guillemette, Grand Duchess of Baden (1801-1865)
Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Sophie Guillemette, Grand Duchess of Baden (1801-1865), 1831. Oil on fabric. Cleveland Museum of Art.
Winterhalter became the favourite portrait painter of Queen Victoria and the Empress Eugénie, and this early portrait of the Grand Duchess of Baden shows why: soft light on the face, exquisite lace and an air of calm grace.
For: one person, in a portrait that flatters without looking modern.
Create your portrait in this style
3. Miss Beatrice Townsend
John Singer Sargent, Miss Beatrice Townsend, 1882. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Sargent painted Beatrice Townsend holding her little terrier when he was twenty-six and already the most daring portrait painter in Paris. The white dress, the dark ground and the dog’s rough coat are done in a few fearless strokes.
For: a child or a young woman with a small dog.
Create your portrait in this style
4. Boy with a Greyhound
Paolo Veronese, Boy with a Greyhound, possibly 1570s. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Veronese was one of the great painters of Renaissance Venice. His young nobleman stands in gold-striped silk beside a greyhound almost as tall as he is. It is the style for anyone who would like to look like Venetian nobility, with their dog.
For: one person with a large dog, standing.
Create your portrait in this style
5. A Woman with a Dog
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, A Woman with a Dog, 1769. Oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Fragonard was the painter of Rococo pleasure, and his woman holding a small white dog with a blue ribbon has all the charm of eighteenth-century Paris: pearls, powder, a rosy face and a pampered pet.
For: a woman with a small dog, or anyone who would enjoy pearls and powdered hair.
Create your portrait in this style
6. Lady Hamilton as 'Nature'
George Romney, Lady Hamilton as 'Nature', 1782. Oil on canvas. The Frick Collection, New York.
Emma Hart, later Lady Hamilton, was Romney’s muse, and he painted her dozens of times. Here she is Nature itself: young, rosy and unaffected, holding a little spaniel. It is a portrait full of warmth.
For: one person holding a small pet, in soft, natural light.
Create your portrait in this style
7. Julie Manet
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Julie Manet, 1887. Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
Julie Manet was the daughter of the painter Berthe Morisot and the niece of Édouard Manet. Renoir painted her at eight with her cat asleep in her arms, in the softest Impressionist brushwork.
For: a child or a young woman with a cat.
Create your portrait in this style
8. Self-Portrait with a Black Dog
Gustave Courbet, Self-Portrait with a Black Dog, 1842. Oil on canvas. Petit Palais, Paris.
Courbet painted himself at about twenty-three, resting on a rock in the countryside with his black spaniel. It is the confident self-portrait of a young man who was about to shake up French painting.
For: a man with his dog, outdoors.
Create your portrait in this style
9. Portrait of a Family Playing Music
Pieter de Hooch, Portrait of a Family Playing Music, 1663. Oil on canvas. Cleveland Museum of Art.
De Hooch was the master of the Dutch interior, with light pouring through windows onto tiled floors. This family plays music together in their best clothes, a portrait of harmony in every sense.
For: a family or a group of friends, especially musical ones.
Create your portrait in this style
10. The Five Eldest Children of Charles I
Anthony van Dyck, The Five Eldest Children of Charles I, 1637. Oil on canvas. Royal Collection.
Van Dyck’s portrait of the children of Charles I, with the future Charles II in red resting his hand on an enormous mastiff. It is the grandest children’s portrait in English art, and still in the Royal Collection.
For: siblings, from two to five, with or without a dog.
Create your portrait in this style
11. Summer Evening at Skagen
Peder Severin Krøyer, Summer Evening at Skagen, 1892. Oil on canvas. Skagens Museum.
Krøyer painted his wife Marie and their dog on the beach at Skagen in the blue hour of a Nordic summer night. It is one of the most loved paintings in Scandinavia, and a portrait of peace.
For: one person with a dog, outdoors, especially by the sea.
Create your portrait in this style
12. A Christmas Carol
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, A Christmas Carol, 1867. Watercolour and gouache.
Rossetti’s A Christmas Carol is a jewel of a picture: a woman in gold and crimson plays a gilded instrument decorated with holly. It is the style to choose for a portrait that will be given at Christmas.
For: one person, in a portrait full of colour and gold.
Create your portrait in this style
How to choose? Start with who is in the photo. A family suits Renoir, de Hooch or Van Dyck. One person suits Winterhalter or Romney. A person with a pet suits Fragonard, Sargent, Courbet or Krøyer. Then pick the mood: bright and airy, or dark and grand. A clear photo in daylight, with faces sharp and nothing covering them, gives the best result in every style. If you would like to see how Fable paints a portrait, read our guide on how a photo becomes a portrait in a famous style.
Questions
How do I turn a photo into a painting?
Choose a style based on a masterwork, send a clear photo and Fable paints you into that style. You see a free preview first, and only pay if you order a print, a canvas or the digital file.
What photo works best?
A sharp photo taken in daylight, with every face clearly visible and no sunglasses or hats. The pose does not need to match the painting, because the style redraws the setting and the clothes.
Can I turn a family photo into a painting?
Yes. Styles such as Madame Charpentier, A Family Playing Music and The Five Eldest Children of Charles I are made for groups. Send one photo with everyone in it.
Are these real paintings?
Yes. Every picture on this page is a real masterwork from a museum collection, and you can order each one as a print. The portrait styles are named after them.