''Self-Portrait'' (or ''Self-Portrait at Twenty-Eight'') is a
panel painting
A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not pain ...
by the
German Renaissance
The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance. Many areas of the arts and sciences ...
artist
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...
. Completed early in 1500, just before his 29th birthday, it is the last of his three painted self-portraits. Art historians consider it the most personal, iconic and complex of these.
[Bailey (1995), p. 68]
The self-portrait is considered remarkable because of its resemblance to contemporary representations of Christ, which could be interpreted as a stunning feat of either arrogance or blasphemy. The similarities with the conventions of religious painting include the manner in which the artist raises his hands to the middle of his chest as if in the act of blessing, while his direct gaze and the sober and earthy tones are clearly invoking Christ.
Description

Dürer's face has the inflexibility and impersonal dignity of a mask, hiding the restless turmoil of anguish and passion within.
In its directness and apparent confrontation with the viewer, the self-portrait is unlike any that came before. It is half-length, frontal and highly symmetrical; its lack of a conventional background seemingly presents Dürer without regard to time or place. The placement of the inscriptions in the dark fields on either side of Dürer are presented as if floating in space, emphasizing that the portrait has a highly symbolic meaning. Its sombre mood is achieved through the use of brown tones set against the plain black background. The lightness of touch and tone seen in his earlier two self-portraits has been replaced by a far more introverted and complex representation.
[Brion (1960), p. 170]
In 1500, a frontal pose was exceptional for a secular portrait. In Italy, the conventional fashion for profile portraits was coming to an end, but being replaced with the three-quarters view which had been the accepted pose in Northern Europe since about 1420, and which Dürer used in his earlier self-portraits. Fully frontal poses remained unusual, although
Hans Holbein painted several of
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
and his queens, perhaps under instruction to use the pose. Late medieval and Early Renaissance art had developed the more difficult three-quarters view, and artists were proud of their skill in using it; to viewers in 1500 and after, a frontal pose was associated with images from medieval religious art, and especially images of Christ.
The self-portrait is of a markedly more mature Dürer than both the 1493 Strasbourg self-portrait and the 1498 self-portrait which he produced after his first visit to Italy; in both of these earlier paintings he had highlighted his fashionable hairstyle and clothing and played on his youthful good looks. Dürer turned 28 around 1500, the time of this work. In the medieval view of the stages of life, 28 marked the transition from youth to maturity. The portrait therefore commemorates a turning point in the artist's life and in the millennium: the year 1500, displayed in the centre of the upper left background field, is here celebrated as epochal. Moreover, the placing of the year 1500 above his signature initials, A.D., gives them an added meaning as an abbreviation of
Anno Domini
The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used when designating years in the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian and Julian calendar, Julian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord" but is often presented using "o ...
. The painting may have been created as part of a celebration of the
saeculum by the circle of the
Renaissance humanist scholar
Conrad Celtes, which included Dürer.
Iconography

Dürer deliberately portrays himself in a manner that invokes
depictions of Christ.
The Latin inscription, composed by Celtes' personal secretary, translates as: "I, Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg portrayed myself in appropriate
'or'' everlastingcolours aged twenty-eight years". A further interpretation holds that the work is an acknowledgement that his artistic talents are God-given.
[ The art historian Joseph Koerner wrote that "to seeing the frontal likeness and inward curved left hand as echoes of, respectively, the "A" and nestled "D" of the ]monogram
A monogram is a motif (visual arts), motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbo ...
featured at the right ... nothing we see in a Dürer is not Dürer's, monogram or not."
Late Northern medieval painting often portrayed Christ looking directly at the viewer, especially when shown as '' Salvator Mundi''. Typically he was shown with a short beard, moustache and brown parted hair. Dürer has rendered himself in this manner, and gives himself brown hair, despite his other self-portraits showing his hair as reddish-blond. The painting so closely follows the conventions of late medieval religious art that it was used as the basis for depictions of Christ in a woodcut by Sebald Beham of c. 1520. This was perhaps intended to be passed off as a print by Dürer from the start, and in later printings bears a very large Dürer monogram, though this appears to have been added to the block several decades later; it was accepted by most experts as a Dürer until the 19th century. In the next century, the face was used for Christ again, in a ''Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery'' of 1637 by Johann Georg Vischer.
Dürer showed himself in similar poses and expressions in both his 1498 ''Christ as Man of Sorrows'' and 1503 charcoal drawing
Head of the Dead Christ
'. Both are believed to be self-portraits, although they are not named as such. However, artist historians believe that since they bear remarkable similarities to his known self-portraits – including prominent eyes, a narrow mouth with a full upper lip, and the shape of both the nose and indent between lip and nose – that Dürer intended to represent himself in these works.
Provenance
The portrait was likely donated or sold by Dürer to the Nuremberg city council. It was probably on continuous public display in Nuremberg from just before Dürer's death in 1528 until 1805, when it was sold to the Bavarian royal collection. It is now in the Alte Pinakothek
The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pin ...
in Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, Germany.
Dürer was highly conscious of his self-image, and painted two earlier self-portraits: one in 1493 now in the Musée du Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
, and another in 1498, now in the Museo del Prado
The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of Art of Europe, European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th ce ...
. He also inserted self-portraits in other paintings, and made self-portrait drawings, although, he did not portray himself in any of his prints. At least twelve self-portrait images survive, as well as the lost gouache
Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...
Dürer sent to Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
c 1515.[Bartrum (2002), p. 77]
Gallery
File:Durer-self-portrait-at-the-age-of-thirteen.jpg, '' Self-Portrait at the Age of 13'', 1484. Silver point drawing, Vienna
File:Albrecht-self.jpg, '' Portrait of the Artist Holding a Thistle'', 1493. Musée du Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
File:Dürer, Albrecht - Self-Portrait (Madrid) - 1498.jpg, '' Self-portrait at 26'', 1498. Museo del Prado
The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of Art of Europe, European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th ce ...
References
Sources
* Bailey, Martin. ''Dürer''. London: Phaidon Press, 1995.
* Bartrum, Giulia, ''Albrecht Dürer and his Legacy''. London: British Museum Press, 2002,
* Brion, Marcel. ''Dürer''. London: Thames and Hudson, 1960.
* Campbell, Lorne. ''Renaissance Portraits, European Portrait-Painting in the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries''. Yale, 1990.
* Hall, James. ''The Self-portrait: A Cultural History''. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014.
* Hutchison, Jane Campbell. ''Albrecht Dürer: A Guide to Research''. New York: Garland, 2000.
* Koerner, Joseph Leo. ''The Moment of Self-Portraiture in German Renaissance Art''. University of Chicago Press, 1996.
* Schmidt, Sebastian. ''»dan sӳ machten dy vürtrefflichen künstner reich«. Zur ursprünglichen Bestimmung von Albrecht Dürers Selbstbildnis im Pelzrock'', in ''Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums'', 2010, 65–82.
* Shiner, Larry. ''The Invention of Art: A Cultural History''. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2003.
* Smith, Robert. ''Dürer as Christ?'', in '' The Sixteenth Century Journal'', volume 6, No. 2, October 1975, 26–36.
*Strauss, Walter L. ''The Complete Engravings, Etchings and Drypoints of Albrecht Dürer''. Dover Books, New York, 1972.
*Sullivan, Margaret. "Alter Apelles: Dürer’s 1500 Self-Portrait". R''enaissance Quarterly'', volume 68, rr. 4, Winter 2015.
* Von Fricks, Julian. "Albrecht Dürer the Elder with a Rosary". In: ''Van Eyck to Durer''. Borchert, Till-Holger (ed). London: Thames & Hudson, 2011.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Self-Portrait
Self-portraiture
1500 paintings
15th-century portraits
Collection of the Alte Pinakothek
Self-portraits by Albrecht Dürer