The phrase "a stern portrait" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a depiction or representation of a person that conveys seriousness or strictness.
Example: "The artist captured the essence of the general with a stern portrait that reflected his unwavering resolve."
Alternatives: "a serious likeness" or "a grim depiction".
A small, slightly sentimental gesture sees him telling his mother, a quiet, sympathetic person, that he prefers the snapshot of himself and his dad relaxing together on a beach to the stern portrait of his father in uniform that has hitherto dominated his bedside table.
Mr. Corrales may not be as famous outside Cuba as Korda Alberto Díaz Gutiérrezz), who took the ubiquitous, stern portrait of Guevara seen on Cuban currency and billboards, but he has just as secure a throne in the pantheon of Cuban photography.
When election day arrived, Azerbaijanis rocked the vote, piling into polling stations around the country under the watchful gaze of Heydar Aliyev (most public buildings display his stern portrait).
As election day arrived, Azerbaijanis began to rock the vote and pile into polling stations around the country, under the watchful gaze of Heydar Aliyev (most public buildings display his stern portrait).
How many Irish pubs in every corner of the world have hung a stern-looking portrait of James Joyce, or included Yeats's name somewhere on the menu?
Where stern portraits of bewhiskered generals once presided over the foyer of the officers' club at Jebensstrasse 2, near the Berlin Zoo station, five of Newton's trademark "Big Nudes" now proclaim his place as a pioneer of erotic fashion photography.
The regional survey continues in other rooms with ominous religious work by Rubens, stern portraits by Franz Hals, lively village scenes by Pieter Bruegel the Younger, wonderfully strange proto-expressionism from James Ensor, and the creepy surrealistic humor of Rene Magritte.
But however he fares, elsewhere in Europe the far right and far left are prospering because, in the name of federalism, the descendants of those moderate and cautious burghers whose stern portraits hang in the Rijksmuseum went wild and let their countries take part in a disastrous economic experiment.
