• A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist.
• In the 15th century, artists first started frequently depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important characters in their work.
One of the earliest self-portraits ever made: Man with Turban by Jan Van
Eyck, 1433
• With better and cheaper mirrors, many painters, sculptors and printmakers tried some form of self-portraiture.
• Durer was one of the first artists to systematically do self portraits over the course of his life
Albrecht Durer – Self-Portrait Age 13, 1484
Albrecht Durer – Self-Portrait with Pillow
Age 20, 1491
Albrecht Durer – Self-Portrait
Age 22, 1493
Albrecht Durer – Self-Portrait Age 28, 1500
Rembrandt did the same a century and a half later…
Age 23 Age 23 Age 28
Age 54 Age 55 Age 63
Lorenzo Ghiberti – Self Portrait on Baptistry Doors
Age 20, 1484
Artemisia Gentileschi
Da Vinci – Study for an Angel (not a self portrait
obviously)
This is him…
Kikuchi Yosai, 1856
Yan Pei-Ming, 2000
Robert Arneson – Chemo Self-Portrait, 1992
Robert Arneson – California Artist
Pulp Paper Portrait
Lucien Freud – Reflection (Self-
Portrait)