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Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ ABOUT A MANISCALCO PORTRAIT

Who is the best portrait painter in South Carolina?Art is very subjective but professionally speaking, Robert Maniscalco is considered the top portrait artist in South Carolina, the Southeast United States and Michigan.

How much does a commissioned portrait cost?

Prices can vary between $800 for a student portrait to $500,000 for top national portrait artists. Robert has tried to keep his prices available to everyone. He has an institutional price scale and personal price scale. His institutional fees range from $7,500 for head and shoulders to $40,000 for multiple and more complicated subjects. His personal fees range between $5,000 and $25,000.

Why does a commission portrait cost so much more than an original artwork?

Custom artworks cost more because they are custom, they are not the artists choice. Although a portrait artist is not a joint-work-for-hire, a commission portrait is a deeply collaborative process that takes much extra time, skill and creativity to make work. Balance your concerns about price against having this legacy artwork the rest of your life – and probably your children’s life after that. What if I told you my portraits come with a 500-year warrantee?

How long does a commission portrait take to complete?

My short answer is 47 years, because today I am at the height of my experience, all of which comes to bear in all future commissions. The timetable for getting a portrait done depends on the size of his current docket. But from start to finish, Robert can complete a portrait with frame in as little as eight weeks.

What is the process for commissioning a portrait?

For commission portraits, Robert works from excellent photographs that he takes himself or that are taken by those commissioning him. He creates multiple thumbnail sketches before agreeing to a concept with the client. For more detailed information about Robert’s process follow this link.

Does Robert Maniscalco travel for portrait commissions?

Robert is happy to travel worldwide to get the best result. He has found personal contact at some point during the process, preferably the beginning, makes for the best result. But Robert creates posthumous portraits and can work remotely when necessary.

Does Robert work from life or from a photograph?

Naturally Robert prefers to work from life, but with our busy schedules, working from a photograph becomes a necessity. Robert has spent years in front of the live model, figure drawing, painting studying the human form, learning and discovering how light interacts with soul under all conditions. He has learned not to copy a photograph but to interpret it. Robert has reverse-engineered the great and modern masters; he has studied and unlocked their processes for a contemporary sensibility.

What types of portraits does Robert Maniscalco paint?

Robert paints any subject the client desires. Robert creates judicial, executive, political, religious, institutional as well as children and family portraits. Robert also does pet portraits. His talent for likeness and expression is born out of much study of the humans and animal anatomy and figure drawing and painting. But his interests go beyond form. A portrait is about the soul and substance of the individual. Robert understands the function of legacy as it relates to portraiture.

He refers to his painting style as Expressive Realism and lends this style to all types of free-standing custom work, including vacation portraits and wedding portraits. By free-standing, we refer to canvas or panel substrates, usually presented in a frame, as opposed to mural or other fixed substrates.

Does Robert Maniscalco paint judicial and executive portraits?

Yes, Robert specializes in creating dynamic, commanding executive, political and judicial portraits for men and women and institutions that have made their mark on the world.

What size should a portrait be?

Of course, this depends on the purpose of the portrait and what may have been done in the past in similar situations. It also depends on where it will hang.  Sometimes a head and shoulder vignette, 16 x 20″ suits the purpose well. Sometimes something grander is called for. Robert also works in full size and over size, as large as one can imagine. The full-size portrait tells more of a story and can include more information about the subject Think of the portrait as the stand of the subject for the next several centuries. How much of yourself, your children, your spouse, do you want remembered in a legacy portrait?

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