Self-Portrait c. 1770

This self-portrait was etched by Johann Andreas Benjamin Nothnagel, sometime in the late 18th century. We see the artist at work, his hand poised with a stylus, palette and books at his side. Nothnagel was working in an era when academies of art were becoming increasingly influential. These institutions played a key role in shaping artistic taste and establishing hierarchies of genres. Self-portraits, like this one, were a way for artists to assert their individual talent and claim a place within the art world. The rather informal dress and domestic setting suggest a kind of self-fashioning, presenting the artist as an intellectual. To fully understand this work, we would need to research the artistic conventions of the time, and the specific institutions with which Nothnagel was associated. By doing so, we can better understand the social conditions that shaped artistic production. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.