|
|
Article: Self-portraits at the National Portrait Gallery.
- Article from:
- Contemporary Review
- Article date:
- December 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Contemporary Review Company Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
CURIOSITY to know what artists looked like is natural, and especially pertinent when we come across their self-portraits, since their self-portraits are part of their achievement. Obligingly, the National Portrait Gallery has gathered together fifty-six artists' self-portraits for our scrutiny in its exhibition, Self Portrait: Renaissance to Contemporary.
Self-portraits are sometimes disconcerting. One is surprised to encounter the burly ruffian face of Perugino, painter of delicate, delectable religious scenes in an ethereal perspective; the gaunt severity of Pintoricchio, celebrant of blithe young Madonnas; the youthful Italianate swagger of Ghirlandaio, homely ...