The artist's self-portrait.

Laurits Tuxen's self-portrait of 1885 belongs to a productive period when he was establishing himself internationally — his large royal group portraits for the Danish court and the British royal family were beginning to define his public identity. The self-portrait allowed him to examine his own appearance and professional identity without the social pressures of commission portraiture, and his self-examination would reveal how he positioned himself as an artist: the professional painter who moved between courts, studios, and the social worlds of his subjects.

Tuxen renders his own features with the direct observation that self-portraiture demands — the studio mirror providing the model for a subject he knew intimately but could never fully see without mediation. His academic technique provides the technical foundation: confident tonal modeling, careful attention to the face's specific character. The composition typically follows self-portrait conventions — three-quarter view, the painter's professional identity conveyed through setting or attribute.