Picture left by artist, Italian (8)
I believe the answer is:
portrait
'picture' is the definition.
(portrait is a kind of picture)
'left by artist italian' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'port' (left side of a ship - opposite of starboard**).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'italian' becomes 'it'.
'port'+'ra'+'it'='PORTRAIT'
(Other definitions for portrait that I've seen before include "Painted likeness of a person" , "Artistic representation (of a person)" , "(Person's) painting" , "Depiction of person" , "Type of painting" .)