Bob Duggan muses on what Lucian Freud's commitment to portraits meant to painting and what his passing may mean for the future of portraiture.

Duggan writes: "Freud literally changed the face (and body) of portraiture… perhaps Freud is taking portraiture to the grave, or at least his brand of portraiture… Maybe the 21st century needs a new Renaissance, with the same hope and faith in the individual of the first one, to throw off the darkness of the 20th… but the only way to move forward may be to leave that style behind…"