Friedrich von Amerling
Self-portrait

1834
Residenzgalerie Salzburg, 276

Over his lifetime, Amerling produced a comparatively large number of self-portraits, which document not only his stylistic development but also his physical ageing process. He varied the detail, angle and perspective, so that, when viewed together, they give an all-round picture of the artist’s head. Some of the 27 portraits can be seen as studies, which the artist used, in the manner of Rembrandt, to try out solutions to problems of composition and technique. For the profile view of Amerling in his Self-portrait, a second mirror was needed to correct the reversal of the mirror image.