Self-portrait
Artist: Maurice-Quentin de La Tour (French, 1704-1788)
Date: 1737 or later
Dimensions:
H: 21 3/4 in. (55.2 cm); W: 18 1/8 in. (46 cm)
Medium: Pastel on board.
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1955.9
Label Text:One of more than 16 versions of the same composition, this self-portrait captures the roguish, irreverent personality of Maurice-Quentin de La Tour. The story of the portrait’s unusual pose and laughing expression is recounted by Georg Frederick Schmidt, who made an engraving of the image in 1742. He tells of a friend of La Tour’s coming to visit the artist in his studio. La Tour saw him approaching and locked his studio door. He then went to observe his friend’s disappointment from the window.
La Tour depicts himself in the casual clothes and cap of an artist at work, leaning out of the window with a grin at the trick he has played on his friend, while he points in the direction of his studio door. La Tour exhibited the original version in 1737 at the Salon (the official annual art exhibition in Paris), where it immediately made an impact. The image was so popular that La Tour made numerous copies of it, and the engraved version was circulated far and wide.
La Tour depicts himself in the casual clothes and cap of an artist at work, leaning out of the window with a grin at the trick he has played on his friend, while he points in the direction of his studio door. La Tour exhibited the original version in 1737 at the Salon (the official annual art exhibition in Paris), where it immediately made an impact. The image was so popular that La Tour made numerous copies of it, and the engraved version was circulated far and wide.
Not on view
In Collection(s)