宫廷画家（英语：Court painter）指的是为皇室或者贵族家庭绘画的画家，他们有固定的薪水，退职后还可以获得养老金。有些国家还设有专门培训宫廷画家的机构。

中国从唐代起已设待诏、供奉等官职。到[[五代，西蜀、南唐设置了画院。在宋代，设置翰林图画院(翰林书画院)，挑选一批优秀画家专门为皇室宫廷服务。

A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or noble family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Especially in the late Middle Ages, they were often given the office of valet de chambre. Usually they were given a salary and formal title, and often a pension for life, though arrangements were very variable. For the artist, a court appointment had the advantage of freeing them from the restriction of local painters' guilds, although in the Middle Ages and Renaissance they also often had to spend large amounts of time doing decorative work about the palace, and creating temporary works for court entertainments and displays. In England the role of Serjeant Painter was set up for this, leaving the "King's painter" (and the queen's) free to paint mostly portraits. See category of Italian art collectors for lists that included non-aristocratic patrons. Some artists, like Jan van Eyck or Diego Velázquez, were used in other capacities at court, as diplomats functionaries, or administrators.