Self-portrait with Easel

Self-portrait with Easel
Year	1640s
Medium	oil paint, canvas
Dimensions	120 cm (47 in) × 102 cm (40 in)
Owner	Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer
Identifiers	RKDimages ID: 236337

Self-Portrait with Easel is a painting by the Flemish artist Michaelina Wautier. It apparently shows a female artist starting on her painting, having sketched the outline of the head of a portrait. It was painted some time in the 1640s. Despite having been part of various art collections since being completed, it was only identified as being by Wautier in 2013. For a long time, the painting was attributed to the Italian artist Artemisia Gentileschi.^[1] Indeed, a 1905 photograph of the painting showed the name Artemisia on the base of the column to the left. It is unknown who added this signature, which is no longer present.^[2] A watch with a pink ribbon attached to it sits on the easel, but the precise reason for its inclusion is not known.

The painting is in a private collection.

Since the person depicted in this painting does not resemble the woman on the right in the Triumph of Bacchus (Wautier), widely believed to be a self-portrait of Michaelina Wautier due to both per prominence and her gaze out at the viewer, Janel Sanzsalzar has suggested that the painting of the woman at the easel is a portrait of Anna Maria van Schurman rather than a self-portrait.^[3] There is no known engraving, identified as a portrait of Michaelina Wautier, that can be compared with either supposed painted self-portrait to confirm the identification of the sitter.

See also

• List of paintings by Michaelina Wautier

References

1. "toegeschreven aan Michaelina Wautier". rkd.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2019-01-21.
2. Katlijne van der Stighelen; Gerlinde Gruber; Martha C. Howell; Jahel Sanzsalazar; Francesca Del Torre Scheuch; Ben van Beneden & Martine Van Elk (2018). Michaelina Wautier 1604–1689: Glorifying a Forgotten Talent (print book). Kontich, Antwerp, Belgium: BAI Publishers. ISBN 9789085867630. OCLC 1031438767 – via WorldCat.
3. Sanzsalazar, Jahel (January 2018). "Michaelina Wautier and the incomparable Anna Maria van Schurman: feminism, art and erudition in the Low Countries in the 17th Century / Michaelina Wautier y la incomparable Ana Maria van Schurman: feminismo, arte y erudición en los Paises Bajos en el siglo XVII". Tendencias del Mercado del Arte 113, May 2018, Pp. 86–91.