Dürer, Albrecht: Self-Portraits

Self-portrait at 22 (Selfportrait with flower)
1493 (140 Kb); Oil on linen, transferred from vellum, 57 x 45 cm; Musee du Louvre, Paris

Self-Portrait at 26
1498 (140 Kb); Oil on panel, 52 x 41 cm; Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

Self-Portrait at 28 (Self-Portrait in Furcoat)
1500 (120 Kb); Oil on panel, 67 x 49 cm (26 1/4" x 19 1/4"); Alte Pinakothek, Munich

The most celebrated of Dürer's many self-portraits is this painting, made when he was 29 and renowned throughout Europe. Frankly idealized into a Christlike image, it may have been meant by Dürer to remind viewers that an artist's creative spirit is God-given.

Facing strait forward, wearing a brown robe with a dark brown fur collar and ornamental notches on the sleeves, he is delicately grasping the fur of the collar, and he seems to be showing a tiny bit of a white (possibly Fruit-of-the-Loom) T-shirt under the coat.
-- A.J. Smith, oinkst@arn.net