Classical Allegory Portrait

Illustration · Classical · Allegory

Download examples
Crowned figure·Nano Banana Pro
Tall plate·Seedream 4.5
Square crop·Seedream 4.5
Detail of the drapery·Seedream 4.5

Recipe

The examples above were generated with Nano Banana Pro and Seedream 4.5. The recipes below are written for GPT Image and Flux, so treat the settings as a starting point rather than the exact run.

A description in plain sentences. This is the version to start with, and it works on any current image model. Settings below are the ones we used on GPT Image; treat them as a starting point.

The recipe is the style, not the picture. Put your own subject in and the highlighted part of the prompt changes.

Prompt

A nineteenth century allegorical plate: a seated crowned figure holding a tall staff, draped in heavy fabric, against a plain pale sky with a single bare tree behind. Precise engraved line beneath a thin wash of muted colour, the pose stiff and symbolic rather than natural, the paper slightly foxed and aged at the edges. No lettering or caption anywhere.

The prompt gets you close. Feed one of the examples in as a style reference for the rest. Download the images

Use the examples as a reference

Download the examples

Send the example as an input image to the images.edits endpoint alongside the prompt, or attach it in ChatGPT. It follows composition closely, so describe your subject firmly or it will copy the example.

Settings on GPT Image

Size
1024 x 1280
Quality
High
Background
Opaque
Output
PNG

Tips

  • 1Engraved line under the colour, never instead of it.
  • 2A stiff symbolic pose is what makes it read as allegory.
  • 3Ask for foxing. Clean paper looks like modern fantasy art.

Things to try

Standing

the figure upright

A robed scholar in the same treatment

different allegory, same plate

Uncoloured

engraved line only

Two figures

a pair in one plate

Darker

a night sky behind

Similar Styles