portraiture Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a word picture of a person's appearance and character
    portrayal; portrait.
  2. noun the activity of making portraits

WordNet

Por"trai*ture noun
Etymology
F. portraiture.
Definitions
  1. A portrait; a likeness; a painted resemblance; hence, that which is copied from some example or model.
    For, by the image of my cause, I see The portraiture of his. Shak.
    Divinity maketh the love of ourselves the pattern; the love of our neighbors but the portraiture. Bacon.
  2. Pictures, collectively; painting. Obs. Chaucer.
  3. The art or practice of making portraits. Walpole.
Por"trai*ture transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To represent by a portrait, or as by a portrait; to portray. R. Shaftesbury.

Webster 1913