Statesman portrait after onset of photography

Depicting a statesman as a high representative of a political state is one of the basic ways how to communicate power. This work shows several case studies of specific examples a usage of this phenomenon in the various state establish-ments based on theoretical analysis of the social role of statesman portrait. The text documents that the appearance of these portraits is given by strong tradi-tion of painting, which fundamentally changed after the onset of photography during the second half of 19th century. The central topic of this text is the phe-nomenon of photographic portrait of statesman which specific form is reflected primarily by the context of its origin and the demands that are placed on its vis-ual aspect as a symbol of the current political power