This Artist Painted Himself
With His Dog, On Limoges Enamel, or As Seen in a Convex Mirror
Learn brief facts about self-portraits by William Hogarth, Jean Fouquet, and Parmigianino, and where the paintings can be seen today.
Which painter depicted himself:
1. With his pug dog?
William Hogarth
Hogarth (1697-1764) was a major painter of the English Enlightenment. He preferred realism over the idealism that was popular in his day, and his paintings serve as social commentary on his times as well as works of art in their own right. In his self-portrait, “The Painter and his Pug” (1745), the artist shows himself posed quite naturally, without romanticizing his looks or dress, with his favorite dog, the gruff-looking Trump, standing guard.
This self-portrait is currently housed at the Tate Gallery in London.
2. On a circular Limoges enamel?
Jean Fouquet
Fouquet (1420–1481) was a 15th-century French master of manuscript illumination whose paintings make use of exquisite detail and stunning colors. He has an unusual skill for precise draftsmanship and for creating clear characterization in miniature. His miniature self-portrait (1450) is created in gold on black Limoges enamel and is the earliest surviving stand-alone self-portrait in Western art. Strangely, he paints himself with a quite dour expression in a decidedly unflattering pose.
Today Fouquet’s self-portrait can be seen at the Louvre in Paris.
3. As if reflected in a convex mirror?
Parmigianino
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (1503-1540), known as “Parmigianino” meaning “little one from Parma,” was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker. His painting “Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror” (1524), painted in oil on wood only 24 cm in width, was created to introduce himself to established artists in Rome. He painted what he saw as he gazed at himself in a barber’s convex glass mirror, enlarging everything that was close to the mirror and minimizing what was distant. Thus, he painted his hand a little large. Upon seeing this, and the two other paintings he brought with him, his Holiness, Pope Clement, seemed astonished at Parmigianino’s talents and gave him the charge of painting the Pope's hall.
The small self-portrait can be seen at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Source:
Bailey, Colin J. "The Art Quiz Book: 2000+ Questions on Painters and Paintings." Station Press: Scotland, 1995.
