Self-portrait, known as "the hand on the chin"

The self-portrait known as 'the hand on the chin', dated 1770, is a contemplative counterpart to the laughing self-portrait from the same year. Together these two works represent a remarkable pair of self-examinations by a sixty-four-year-old artist in full possession of his technical powers. The pose — chin resting on hand — was a conventional image of melancholic reflection since classical antiquity, but Liotard uses it without theatrical exaggeration, arriving instead at a quietly observant image of self-study. This work, like the laughing self-portrait, is held by the Geneva Museum of Art and History, which functions as the primary archive of Liotard's self-imaging. The pastel medium allows greater intimacy than oil, and the choice of pastel for this introspective image is consistent with the medium's association with private, personal work.

Pastel on paper, with Liotard's controlled hatching technique visible throughout. The pose requires the face to be seen at a slight downward angle, giving the lighting a different character from his more upright self-portraits. The hand — itself a technical challenge in pastel — is rendered with the same precision as the face.