NAVIGATION

Informal friendship portraits known as ‘Freundschaftsbilder’ were particularly popular with German artists in the early 19th century. They were usually painted by another artist of the same circle perhaps as a token of regard. The artist has been given a very theatrical air whilst showing off all the indications of his profession and the slightly erotic subject matter of his art. His eyes look out from the portrait with a peculiar intensity and are separately focused which may be because it is a self portrait and the artist used a mirror to paint his own image. He sits before a velvet curtain in an embroidered coat and a silk waistcoat, recalling Leonardo da Vinci’s comment that whilst the painter sits at ease in his chair in his fine clothes, the sculptor labours amidst the dust and noise of his workshop.