Portrait of the Artist Holding a Thistle
Albrecht Dürer · 1493
The story
Portrait of the Artist Holding a Thistle (or Eryngium) is an oil painting on parchment pasted on canvas by the German artist Albrecht Dürer. Painted in 1493, it is the earliest of Dürer's painted self-portraits and has been identified as one of the first self-portraits painted by a Northern artist. It was acquired in 1922 by the Louvre in Paris.
Dürer looks out at the viewer with a psychologically complex but rather melancholy and reserved, serious minded, facial expression. During the 15th century, thistles were symbols of male conjugal fidelity.
- Artist
- Albrecht Dürer
- Date
- 1493
- Collection
- Louvre, Paris, France
- Movement
- German Renaissance
- Medium
- parchment, oil paint, canvas
- Size
- 56.5 × 44.5 cm
Story adapted from the Wikipedia article and its contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
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