Self-portrait of the artist

This self-portrait on cardboard, dated 1947, is one of the last known self-images by Mariano Fortuny Madrazo, who died that same year in Venice. By this point Fortuny was in his mid-eighties and internationally famous — celebrated for his Delphos gown, his Knossos scarves, his magical theatrical lighting systems, and the Palazzo Pesaro degli Orfei he had transformed into one of the most remarkable artistic environments in Europe. Yet painting had always been a private rather than commercial pursuit, and his late self-portraits carry the unsentimental directness of a man recording himself without illusion. The choice of cardboard as support reflects the informal, studio-note character of these late works, made for himself rather than for exhibition. The Museo Fortuny preserves this work within the collection that Henriette maintained intact after his death, ensuring his full creative range — painting, photography, textile design, theatrical lighting — could be understood as a whole.

The informal cardboard support and abbreviated handling of the face mark this as a private studio work. Fortuny's confident draughtsmanship reads clearly even in this late, summary treatment of the subject.