One of the most important portraitists of the eighteenth century, Jean-Baptiste Greuze painted himself on a number of occasions throughout his long and successful career. Greuze was a particularly empathetic painter, who imbued his subjects with sensitive emotions, both subtle and grand. While his self-portraits tend to have a more stoic quality, nonetheless his personality shines through. Here the slightly unfinished quality and brushy handling provides an immediacy which allows the viewer an insight into his own self-reflection.
Perhaps the most famous self-portrait by the artist is the one in the Louvre, painted when the artist was in his 50s.1 The present work is closest to another self-portrait kept at the Louvre, which is earlier, circa 1760 (fig. 1). That painting is more finished than our canvas, and in a rectangular shape rather than an oval, though they are certainly from the same moment. In fact, the 1845 Cypierre sale cited in the provenance for the Louvre canvas is perhaps confused with the present work, as it is described as an oval.2 It would not be uncommon for Greuze to return to a painting on a few occasions as he works out the composition, and the loose handling exhibited in both pictures suggest that these were personal studies by the artist, rather than formal presentation pieces.
1. Oil on canvas, 73 by 59 cm., inv. no. 5034.
2. No dimensions were provided in the sale catalogue so it is difficult to know for certain.