Self-portrait of Liotard laughing

Liotard's self-portrait laughing, dated 1770, is one of the most psychologically unexpected self-images produced by any eighteenth-century artist. Spontaneous laughter was conventionally excluded from formal portraiture, associated with low social status and lack of decorum; for a painter of Liotard's stature to depict himself in open amusement was a deliberate act of self-characterisation. By 1770 Liotard was sixty-four and had lived a remarkable life — years in Constantinople, portraits of European monarchs, a celebrity based partly on his eccentric Turkish dress and long beard. The laughing self-portrait may be read as a summation of that unusual life, an image of a man who had consistently refused to conform to expectations. The Geneva Museum of Art and History, which holds the largest collection of his works, naturally houses this most personal of his self-images.

Canvas support in Liotard's late style, with the open mouth and animated expression demanding subtle handling of the musculature around the jaw and eyes. The asymmetry of a laughing face requires precise tonal modelling to avoid a grimacing effect, and Liotard manages this with confident control.