Autoportrait

Self-portraits by French Rococo painters are relatively rare compared to the extensive tradition in Dutch and Flemish art, and Charles Joseph Natoire's autoportrait of around 1750, now in the Condé Museum at Chantilly, is a significant document of the artist's self-image at mid-career. By 1750, Natoire was at the height of his reputation: a year later he would be appointed director of the French Academy in Rome. The Condé Museum at Chantilly, assembled primarily by Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale, in the nineteenth century, holds one of the finest collections of French paintings outside Paris, with particular strength in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century works. A self-portrait by Natoire in this collection suggests it was either acquired directly or came through an early collection sympathetic to the artist. In the self-portrait, Natoire would likely have presented himself in his professional identity — perhaps with palette and brushes — as was conventional for artist self-portraits of the period.

The self-portrait likely follows the standard artist self-portrait convention of depicting Natoire with the tools of his trade, allowing technical self-display simultaneously with biographical documentation. The handling of his own face would have required the particular challenge of simultaneous observation and execution. The paint surface shows his mature assurance, and the lighting is characteristically warm and refined.