Self-Portrait

Nicolas de Largillière was among the most highly esteemed and prolific portrait painters working in the time of Louis XIV of France, and his popularity continued through the period of the regency that followed Louis's death in 1715. His portraits were admired for their deftly rendered textures and for the confident poses that lent a sense of grandeur and ease to the sitters. They were sought after by a diverse clientele, ranging from royalty and courtiers to the upper middle class. In this work, one of his many self-portraits, Largillière presented himself as fashionably dressed and self-assured, the master of his art. He depicted himself as ready to lay out a painting, working with a porte-crayon (a piece of chalk in a holder) on the blank canvas behind him.