Self-portrait
Diego Velázquez·1645
Historical Context
Velazquez's self-portrait at the Uffizi, painted around 1645, presents the artist at the midpoint of his career. The Uffizi's collection of artists' self-portraits, begun by Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici, acquired this work as a record of one of Europe's supreme painters. Velázquez's uncompromising naturalism and psychological penetration, combined with his revolutionary loose handling of paint in his late work, made him one of the most admired painters in history, his technique anticipating Impressionism and influencing Manet, Sargent, and countless others.
Technical Analysis
The painter regards himself with the same unsparing honesty he applied to all his sitters. Dark costume against dark background, the face emerging as the sole point of interest — Velazquez reduces self-portraiture to its essence, the confrontation between an artist and his own image.
