Albrecht Dürer Self-portrait 1493. oil, originally on vellum Louvre, Paris. This is among the earliest known formal self-portraits.

15 Amazing Famous Artists Self Portraits

All my drawings are self-portraits.

Regia Marinho
4 min readApr 12, 2022

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“All my images are self-portraits, even when I’m not in them.”
Nuno Roque.

A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist.

Self-portraits have been made since the earliest times. But it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century that artists can be frequently identified by themselves as either the main subject or as important characters in their work.

And with better mirrors, many painters, sculptors, and printmakers tried some form of self-portraiture.

Jean Fouquet, c. 1450.

A very early portrait miniature.

Jean Fouquet, c. 1450.

During the Baroque period, printed portraits of artists had a market, and many were self-portraits.

Self-portraits were sometimes given as gifts to family and friends.

They avoided the need to arrange for a model, and for the many professional portrait painters, a self-portrait kept in the studio…

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Regia Marinho
Regia Marinho

Written by Regia Marinho

I publish tech, art, food, AI, AR, architecture, interior design, fashion, and photography articles. Ideas to inspire the world through art. @regiaart

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