Self-Portrait

Around 1898 Frederick W. MacMonnies suddenly abandoned his successful career as a sculptor to take up painting, but a lack of commercial success ultimately forced him to quit the medium in about 1906. At least nine self-portraits from this period are known. While in several of these MacMonnies holds a palette and brush, here he does not identify as an artist. Rather he portrayed himself as a gentleman of leisure, dressed and ready to attend a casual gathering. Part of a group of expatriate American artists living and working in Paris and Giverny, MacMonnies drew inspiration from the Old Masters, especially in the lighting and modeling of the figure, and from the Impressionists, whose loose brushwork and high-keyed colors likewise inform the composition.