Portrait from an old photo

Your questions, before commissioning

How much does a portrait from an old photo cost?

The same rate as for a recent photo: from 90 € on A4 paper, from 180 € on a 30×40 cm canvas, 240 € for 40×50 cm, 320 € for 50×70 cm. The condition of the photo changes the work; the price follows the size alone. The first two sketches are complimentary and the quote leaves within 48 hours.

Who paints the portrait?

Giulia Dal Bon, a painter trained at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. She exhibits her paintings in art galleries, paints by brush, on canvas or on paper, from your photos, and ships the painting anywhere in Europe, carefully packed. Corriere della Sera, Domus and Sky Arte have covered her work.

What exactly do I receive?

The painting itself, on canvas or on paper depending on the size chosen, varnished, signed if you wish, and carefully packed for shipping, sent from the country of destination. Before that, you receive the first two sketches, free of charge, and you follow the progress in photos. A 50 % deposit after the sketch is approved, the balance at the end.

What should I send with the photo?

The photo, taken flat with a phone in good light, and a few words: who this person is, the colour of their eyes and hair, the period, what they often wore. This information replaces what black-and-white erased. If other family members have other prints, even different ones, send those too: each adds a piece.

Do I need to send the original?

A photo of the photo is more than enough. Lay the print flat near a window, in daylight with the flash off, then take it with a phone straight on. The original stays with you, which matters when it is the only copy. If the result is hard to read, Giulia tells you and explains how to retake the shot.

How does Giulia recover the colours of a black-and-white photo?

From what you know: the colour of the eyes, the hair, a dress the family remembers. For the rest she relies on the light of the photo and on the period, the fabrics, the hairstyles. She proposes the palette on the sketch before painting, and you adjust it together. Two complimentary sketches, adjusted with you.

Is a torn or stained photo enough?

Often, yes. Giulia rebuilds what is missing from the intact part and, if you have them, from other photos of the same person. She tells you within 48 hours what she can restore and what will remain an interpretation. Scan the photo or photograph it in full light, free of reflections, and send it.

My only photo is black-and-white: can it become a colour painting?

Yes, it is work Giulia does often. She rebuilds the colours from what you tell her: the colour of the eyes, of the hair, the fabric of a dress the family remembers. What memory keeps, painting puts back in place. The two complimentary sketches show you these choices before she starts, and you correct them freely.

The photo is small, blurred or damaged: is that enough?

Most of the time, yes. A painting needs less detail than a photographic enlargement, because the brush rebuilds where the enlargement stretches. A folded, stained or torn image is still usable: Giulia works on what is legible and restores the rest. Send it as it is, photographed with a phone, and she will tell you within 48 hours what she can make of it.

Why paint rather than have the photo restored?

A restoration repairs an image; a painting makes it a work of art. The painting brings back volume, texture and a chosen light, where the restored print keeps its original limits. And it goes on the wall, at the right size, in the room where you live. Many families do both: they keep the photo and hang the painting.

Can several old photos be gathered into one painting?

Yes, and each photo brings a piece, the pose from one image, the face from another, a detail of clothing from a third. Giulia composes the whole in a single light and shows you the result on the sketch. People photographed at different times can thus meet on the same canvas.

Which other pages should I look at?

The memorial portrait, when the person photographed has died. Adding a lost loved one to a family painting, to bring several generations together. The portrait from a photo, if you have recent images. And the gift page, if the painting is meant for someone else.