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Unknown Artist (circle of Jan Anthonisz. van Ravesteyn)
Self-portrait with a Square Palette
Around 1600

The self-portrait as an instrument of self-fashioning began in the Renaissance and assumed innovative forms in the seventeenth century. This unknown painter presents himself in the formalwear of a wealthy Dutch burgher, yet he clasps paintbrushes and a loaded palette, as if executing a painting. Such a contradiction speaks to the promotional potential of the self-portrait among connoisseurs, who sought dignified images of famous artists executed in their individual styles.

 
Unknown Artist (circle of Jan Anthonisz. van Ravesteyn)
Self-portrait with a Square Palette
Around 1600
Oil on panel
76.2 x 50.8 cm
Gift of Alfred and Isabel Bader, 2014
57-001.04

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