In today’s class, we looked at a large pool of portraits. In particular, we viewed Robert Campin’s Portraits of a Man and a Woman. These two works reminded me of classic portraits one might see at a museum. Portraits for me were never a point of interest, as I would prefer looking at landscapes. However, Erwin Panofsky’s analysis of portraits that was presented in the powerpoint alongside Portraits of a Man and a Woman shifted my perception. Panofsky claimed that individuality and totality were the two essential qualities of portraiture. While these may be contradictory ideas, each adds very specific and crucial aspects to the art. Individuality is what separates the subject from other people and from other time periods. Totality relates to what the sitter has in common with the rest of humanity, things that are constant throughout time. This added humanity makes a portrait unique and not another figural representation.