-
Jan 1, 1425
Ghiberti. "Gates of Paradise." (1425-1452).
"Executed in the lost wax technique, these doors have figures nearly in the round with parts of their bodies extended from the background as well as details in very shallow relief" (Sullivan "Gates of Paradise, Florence Baptistry"). -
Period: Jan 1, 1425 to
Self-Portraits throughout History
This timeline showcases various examples of self-portraits from well-known, familiar, or unknown artists (such as myself). It is a presentation of the selfie before there were selfies which seem to have consumed our picture taking activities today. -
Jan 1, 1434
Van Eyck. "Arnolfini Portrait." (1434).
"The ornate Latin signature translates as 'Jan van Eyck was here 1434'" ("Jan van Eyck | The Arnolfini Portrait"). -
Jan 1, 1484
Dürer. "Self-portrait at 13." (1484).
"Dürer's skill as a portraitist is embodied in the story that his dog once barked and wagged its tail at one of his self-portraits" (Sayre 260). -
Jan 1, 1510
Da Vinci. "Bearded old man (self-portrait?)." (1510).
"Leonardo da Vinci’s famous red chalk sketch of an old man in Turin was long identified as a self-portrait, corresponding to Raphael’s contemporaneous image in his School of Athens of Leonardo in the guise of Plato" (Binstock and Union). -
Jan 1, 1513
Raphael. "Portrait of a Young Man." (1513-1514).
This portrait was "[l]ast seen in Dr. Hans Frank's chalet in Neuhaus on lake Schliersee, Germany, in January 1945" ("Most Wanted: Works of Art"). -
Jan 1, 1536
Michelangelo. "Last Judgment." (1536-1541).
"...Michelangelo believed that a beautiful body was the physical representation of a beautiful soul, especially in man’s prelapsarian state" (Zawie). -
Jan 1, 1547
Michelangelo. "The Deposition (Florence Pietà)." (1547-1553).
"The bearded figure, usually considered a self-portrait, is identified as either Joseph of Arimethea or Nicodmus" (Sullivan "Pietà (The Florence Pietà or The Deposition of Christ)"). -
Rembrandt. "Self-Portrait in a Cap, Open Mouthed." (1630).
"For Rembrandt, studying and recording his own expressions in front of a mirror was practical and efficient" ("Self-Portrait in a Cap, Open Mouthed, 1630"). -
Gentileschi. "Self-portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura)." (1638-1639).
"The work is also, however, a self-portrait: as a woman artist, Artemisia identifies herself as the female personification of Painting" ("Artemisia Gentileschi (Rome 1593-Naples 1652)"). -
Velázquez, "Las Meninas (the Maids of Honor)." (ca. 1656)
"Las Meninas has one meaning that is immediately obvious to any viewer: it is a group portrait set in a specific location and peopled with identifiable figures undertaking comprehensible actions" ("Las Meninas"). -
Ducreux. "Portrait de l'artiste sous les traits d'un moqueur." (1793).
"In the late 1780s, the irascible Ducreux painted "character" self-portraits, using his own face to study various expressions, then a popular field for artistic exploration" ("Joseph Ducreux"). -
Courbet. "Self-Portrait (The Desperate Man)." 1843-1845.
"Popular at the time, the Romantic approach to portraiture was concerned with expressing emotional and psychological states of the individual" (galleryIntell). -
Nadar. "Revolving Self-portrait." (1865).
"He began to use the name 'Nadar' in 1939 in his articles written for Parisian journals" ("Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon)"). -
Van Gogh. "Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gauguin." (1888)
"Shortly after he sent the work to Gauguin, however, their friendship deteriorated, and Gauguin sold it for three hundred francs" ("From the Harvard Art Museums' collections Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gauguin"). -
Frida Kahlo. "The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)." (1939).
"The year she painted this canvas she was divorced from Diego Rivera, the acclaimed Mexican muralist" ("Kahlo, The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)"). -
Salvador Dalí. "Soft Self-Portrait with Grilled Bacon." (1941).
"Dalí always remembered the piece of flayed skin with which Michelangelo represented himself in the Sistine chapel in the Vatican and argued the most consistent thing of our representation is not the spirit or the vitality, but the skin" ("Soft Self-Portrait with Grilled Bacon"). -
Rockwell. "Triple Self-Portrait." (1960).
"Humor and humility were essential aspects of Norman Rockwell's character, so when asked to do a self-portrait that would announce the first of eight excerpts of his autobiography, the results were lighthearted and somewhat self-deprecating" ("Triple Self-Portrait"). -
Warhol. "Self-Portrait." (1966).
"Self-Portrait (1966) was constructed in what would become one of Warhol’s signature styles—a grid of bright, repeated silkscreened portraits" ("Andy Warhol Self-Portait 1966"). -
Picasso. "Self Portrait Facing Death." (June 30, 1972).
"Pablo Picasso continued to create art and maintain an ambitious schedule in his later years, superstitiously believing that work would keep him alive" (Biography.com Editors). -
Basquiat. "Untitled." (1981).
"The 1981 canvas “Untitled,” showing the former graffiti artist with hands raised beside his mask-like face, is formally valued at about 13 million pounds in the June 27 Christie’s International sale of postwar and contemporary art in London" (Reyburn). -
Sikander. "Pleasure Pillars." (2001).
"Shahzia Sikander combines elements from Hindu mythology, Persian tales, and personal experience in paintings such as Pleasure Pillars, 2001" (Lowry). -
Steadman. "Self-Portrait." (2006).
"For his homage to Leonardo da Vinci (which won the WHSmith Award for best book for 5 years in 1987) he [Steadman] even constructed a flying machine from lengths of bamboo and an old tent, which he launched from the roof of his house and which can be seen in the BBC documentary I Leonardo" ("Ralph Steadman Biography"). -
Stewart. Reported Self-Portrait of Banksy on a Blue Wall.
"It is possible the graffiti art was created by someone else. But evidence compiled in a Mail on Sunday investigation suggests that Banksy is indeed Robin Gunningham – and that in his latest graffiti he has coyly acknowledged his unmasking" (Boffey). -
Duley. "Self-Portrait (Greek Statue)." (2011).
"On 7 February this year, Giles Duley, an independent 39-year-old British photographer, was blown up by a landmine in Afghanistan" (Kellaway). -
Budaj. "Me near Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge." (2016).
"Suspended almost 100 ft (30 m) above sea level, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge was first erected by salmon fishermen over 200 years ago and is now a major tourist attraction on the North Coast - we have about 250,000 visitors striding across it every year" ("Things to see and do at Carrick-a-Rede").
