Profile self-portrait in a cap

In the last twenty-five years of his life, Jonathan Richardson the elder, a successful portraitist, began drawing self-portraits such as this one as a means of self-examination. Never intended for public exhibition, they reveal an aging artist reflecting on himself with unsentimental directness. The austere profile pose he adopts here is associated with ancient Roman portrait medals and coins. Richardson’s costume of cap and robe however would have been worn at home or in the studio, reinforcing the informality of the image.