Renaissance Self-Portraiture: The Visual Construction of Identity and the Social Status of the Artist

Rating:
Summary: A pleasure for the mind as well as the eye. Highly readable!
Review: The author takes on a difficult task and fulfills it beyond expectation. It allows the modern reader insight into the workshop and world of all the artists discussed, from the modest presentation of the artist as a member of the mourners at the Crucifixion to the self-conscious, presentation of the artist as a courtier. All those who have ever transformed themselves before a mirror will learn something about the art of self-imaging. The author places the artists in their time and place, yet relates all those who, sharing the constraints of patronage, took liberties in the privacy of their studios when they put their own features on canvas. The artists could then appear, not only as they were, but as they wished to be seen. From self-revelation to self-marketing, we are able to follow the process of creation from preliminary drawings to engraved reproductions. The book leaves room to browse among many diverse painters, male and female, or to read in depth about one's favorites - whether Artemisia Gentileschi or Raphael, or many less well known. Even though the text is filled with erudite scholarly information, the author never condescends to her readership but writes clearly and simply. The plates are beautifully printed( a rarity in solid - non coffee table - art books) and the text legible. A book which blows away myths to reveal the motivations of the status conscious artist, ever seeking immortality. Recommended for those who want to find out 'why' it was painted as well as 'how'. A revelation of the multiplicity of our potential selves and the multiple strategies used to visualize each of them in the Renaissance. A book that should appeal not only to art historians but painters and advertising executives, corporate imagers and fashion consultant, poets and narcissists alike.