Leonardo da Vinci: self-portrait, 1512

10 SELECTED SELF-PORTRAITS

(in chronological order)

Albert Dürer: Self-portrait as an Ecce Homo, c.1500

Leonardo da Vinci: Self-portrait, c.1512

Rembrandt van Rijn: Self-portrait, 1659

Vincent van Gogh: Self-portrait with bandaged ear, 1889

Pablo Picasso: Self-portrait, 1901

Egon Schiele: Self-portrait, 1911

Max Beckmann: Self-portrait with glass of champagne, 1919

Frida Kahlo: The broken column (Self-portrait), 1944

Francis Bacon: Self-portrait, 1971

Jean-Michelle Basquiat: Self-portrait, 1982

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2. LEONARDO DA VINCI: “Self-portrait”, 1512 (?) - drawing, 33.3- 21.3 cm., Torino, Royal Library

Leonardo da Vinci: self-portrait

There is no artist more legendary than Leonardo. In the whole History of Art, no other name has created more discussions, debates and studies than the genius born in Vinci in 1452. Painter, sculptor, architect, scientific and investigator, the figure of Leonardo has generated multiple legends, myths, and rumours about his possible homosexuality, about his membership to vast numbers of lodges and sects, strange stories about his stay in Verrocchio's workshop, or his allegedly weird relationship with many of his models, forming the Leonardesque Mythology in which the huge success of “ The da Vinci Code ” is only his most recent example

As far as we know, this extraordinary drawing is the only surviving self-portrait by the master. If the generally accepted date for this work is correct (1512), then it's quite remarkable that the artists had showed himself as an ancient man, if we consider that he had only 60 years old or less at the time the drawing was finished.

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