Autoportrait

This 1767 self-portrait was painted two years before Greuze's humiliating rejection at the Académie royale, when his Septimius Severus and Caracalla was denied the status of a history painting. At this point Greuze was at the height of his celebrity, praised by Diderot and sought after by collectors across Europe. Characteristic of the artist's mature approach, the work displays theatrically posed figures, expressive faces registering emotion with unsubtle directness, a palette ranging from Rococo pastels in early works to colder, more sober tones after the Revolution.

The self-portrait reveals Greuze's confident technique in portraiture, with direct, engaging eye contact and warm flesh tones modeled with the same care he lavished on his genre subjects.