Zelfportret van Peter Paul Joseph Noël 1799 - 1822

Peter Paul Joseph Noël created this self-portrait with graphite on paper, sometime around the late 18th or early 19th century, a period marked by significant social and political change. As we look at this portrait, we see a man presented in a straightforward, unassuming manner. There’s an honesty in the way Noël depicts himself. In this period of revolution and empire, artists were often caught between expressing individual identity and adhering to societal expectations. Noël, who lived through the tumultuous period of French occupation and the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, would have had a complex relationship with his own identity. Through his art, Noël seems to navigate the complexities of self-representation during this period. The subtlety of the graphite medium mirrors the delicate balance between personal expression and public persona, leaving us to wonder about the tensions and negotiations that shaped Noël’s sense of self.