Learn brief facts about self-portraits by German Expressionist Max Beckmann and Italian Baroque master Caravaggio and where the paintings can be viewed today.
Which painter depicted himself:
1. With Quappi?
Max Beckmann
Beckmann (1884-1950) was a distinguished and prolific painter of the German Expressionism movement although he seemed to avoid abstraction. Expressionism was never a unified group of artists but was more a dispersed group of loners living in isolation on the edge of society. Their work is often downright harsh and ugly, with a tendency toward exaggeration and caricature, with none of the joy of life of Renaissance or Impressionist art. The public has never been overwhelmingly favorable toward Expressionistic art. Indeed, these artists were persecuted by the Nazis who declared them and their work “degenerate.”
Beckmann was exceptional certainly for the number of self-portraits he created, perhaps as many as did Rembrandt and Picasso, perhaps more than any other artist. In 1925 Beckmann divorced his first wife and married Mathilde von Kaulbach, nicknamed “Quappi” (from the similarity of her last name to the German word “kaulquappe” meaning “tadpole”). Quappi became a frequent and flamboyant subject of many of his paintings. Typically Expressionist artists were cruel and misogynistic in their portrayal of women in their art, but Beckmann’s paintings of his second wife show tenderness and intimacy.
A double-portrait named “Carnival (Pierrette and Clown)” (1925) shows Quappi sitting with legs crossed and holding a fan. Although the clown, wearing green, hides his identity with a white scarf wrapped around his head, he has been identified as Beckmann himself. This paintings hangs at the Tate Modern.
Another self-portrait of Beckmann with Quappi, "Dubbelportret Max Beckmann en Quappi" (1940), showing his wife holding a simple white flower, today hangs at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
2. As Goliath in “David with the Head of Goliath”?
Caravaggio
The great Italian master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), who burst onto the art scene in Rome in 1600, painted several versions of David and Goliath, in each of which it is believed he portrayed himself as the head of Goliath. The first “David and Goliath” (1599), today held in Museo del Prado in Madrid, was painted early in the artist's career. Light catches on David's leg, arm, and flank but everything else is dark, showing this to be a private triumphant moment. Oddly, Goliath’s face does not show terror and the drama seems to focus on David.
In the second version, “David with the Head of Goliath” (1607), currently at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Caravaggio shows David in triumph with the head in his hand. In this version, the artist has adapted an unconventional presentation with the head facing the viewer.
This final “David with the Head of Goliath” (1609) housed at the Borghese Gallery in Rome is believed to be Caravaggio’s last work. If Goliath's head is indeed Caravaggio's, there is an element of self disgust in this painting. The painting is filled with dull browns, blacks, and dirty silvers. It portrays a mood close to despair.
Source:
Bailey, Colin J. “The Art Quiz Book: 2000+ Questions on Painters and Paintings.” Station Press: Scotland, 1995.
