Self-portrait 1810

cardboard, oil, canvas

cardboard

portrait

16_19th-century

portrait image

portrait

oil

canvas

portrait reference

portrait head and shoulder

romanticism

animal drawing portrait

portrait drawing

facial portrait

portrait art

fine art portrait

digital portrait

Franz Pforr’s self-portrait, painted in 1810, is a striking example of early 19th-century portraiture. The artist’s intense gaze and the realistic details of his attire, including a brown coat and white shirt, create a sense of intimacy and realism. Pforr, who tragically died at the young age of 24, captured his own likeness with remarkable skill. This small-scale painting, currently housed in the Städel Museum, serves as a poignant reminder of the artist’s short but impactful life and the enduring power of self-portraits in art history.

Comments

stadelmuseum about 1 year ago

⋮

It almost seems as if we can already see traces of the severe illness which would lead to Franz Pforr's death two years later at the age of only twenty-four. As one of the intellectual leaders of the Brotherhood of St Luke, the artist community which moved from Vienna to Rome in 1810, Pforr supported the idea of an art which was to be revived through spirituality and piety. In this bust portrait, dominated by his penetrating gaze, Pforr demonstrates his adherence to the tradition of his admired role model Fürer. The austerity and simplicity of the portrait match the principle of the simple life to which the artists subscribed in their quarters in Rome, the Monastery of Sant'Isidoro.