''Self-Portrait'' is a 1665 ''niche painting'' by

Gerrit Dou Gerrit Dou (7 April 1613 – 9 February 1675), also known as Gerard Douw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for his '' ...

. It shows the artist at the peak of his fame, holding a palette and surrounded by studio objects. It is in the collection of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Description

Like his teacher

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

before him, Dou created several self-portraits, probably on commission for specific patrons who owned more than one of his works. Today about a dozen are known. This one came into the collection via the

Benjamin Altman Benjamin Altman (July 12, 1840 – October 7, 1913) was a New York City department store owner and art collector who is best known today for his large art collection, which he donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Life and career Benjami ...

bequest. This painting by Dou was documented by

Hofstede de Groot Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (9 November 1863 – 14 April 1930), was a Dutch art collector, art historian and museum curator. Life He was born in Dwingeloo and spent some time in Switzerland in his youth due to weak lungs, where he learned Germa ...

in 1908, who wrote; "283. Portrait of the Painter.

Sm. __NOTOC__ Sir James Edward Smith (2 December 1759 – 17 March 1828) was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society. Early life and education Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a ...

101 and Suppl. 60; M. 112. He stands at a window, holding palette and brushes in his left hand, and turning over with his right the leaves of a large book lying on the sill. He looks about forty. He wears a brownish vest with sleeves, a dark blue cloak embroidered with gold lace, and a light blue cap. A curtain hangs over the window-sill, partly covering the well-known relief by Duquesnoy of children playing with a he-goat, which is underneath the window. In the foreground is a pot of marigolds. A vine grows over one side of the window, where is hung a bird-cage. In the background is an easel with an open umbrella on the top. "A very beautiful and interesting picture " (Sm.). Blanc states wrongly that it was on canvas, measuring 28 inches by 23 1/2 inches.283. Portrait of the Painter
" in Hofstede de Groot, 1908 The relief by Duquesnoy was used several times by Dou in other niche paintings: File:Dou-Self-Portrait-Uffizi.jpg File:Dou Violinist.jpg File:Gerard Dou - Violon Player - WGA06663.jpg File:The Doctor 1653 Gerard Dou.jpg File:Gerard Dou 004.jpg File:The Grocer’s Shop, by Gerrit Dou.jpg

Later influence

This painting was copied by Etienne Compardel, and perhaps it is this version that was used as an example by

Jacob Houbraken Jacobus Houbraken (25 December 1698 – 14 November 1780) was a Dutch engraver and the son of the artist and biographer Arnold Houbraken (1660–1719), whom he assisted in producing a published record of the lives of artists from the Dutch Gold ...

for his father's dictionary of painters. Arnold Houbraken admired Dou so much he started his second volume of painter biographies called the ''

Schouburgh ''The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters and Paintresses'', or ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'', as it was originally known in Dutch, is a series of artist biographies with engraved portraits written by the 1 ...

'' with his biography, calling him with his contemporary

Bartholomeus van der Helst Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613 – buried 16 December 1670) was a Dutch painter. Considered to be one of the leading portrait painters of the Dutch Golden Age, his elegant portraits gained him the patronage of Amsterdam's elite as well as t ...

"two guiding lights in the arts" and illustrating their portraits with two burning wicks. File:Etienne Compardel after Gerard Dou - Portrait of the Painter with a Palette in a Niche.jpg, Miniature copy by Compardel File:Schouburg Plate A - Gerard Dou and Bartolomeus van der Helst.jpg, Portraits of Dou and Van der Helst by Jacobus Houbraken

Description

Later influence

References

Further reading