Artwork
Self Portrait
Self Portrait is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Anna Dorothea Therbusch. It dates from 1740 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
As a self-portrait, the image functions as a personal statement of professional identity, presenting the sitter, who is also the maker, directly to the viewer.
The painting is a self-portrait in which the artist depicts herself as the sole subject. According to the catalogue record, the work portrays Anna Dorothea Therbusch and represents a woman, with the artist herself identified as the main subject. As a self-portrait, the image functions as a personal statement of professional identity, presenting the sitter, who is also the maker, directly to the viewer.
The genre classification of self-portrait and the explicit depiction of a woman situate the work within the tradition of artists asserting their own likeness and status through painting. The medium of oil on canvas supports the kind of direct, sustained gaze and detailed rendering of features typical of introspective self-presentation. Beyond these catalogued facts, the sources do not provide details on specific iconographic attributes, symbolic objects, or allegorical elements within the composition, so any deeper interpretive reading of meaning cannot be grounded in the available evidence.
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting on canvas measuring 52 cm in height by 43 cm in width, depicting the artist herself in a direct frontal composition that emphasizes facial expression and attire. Brushwork is rendered with fine detail to capture skin tones and fabric textures, while the palette employs muted earth tones punctuated by subtle highlights of red in the clothing. The surface shows a smooth, even application of oil paint without visible impasto, and the handling is deliberate, suggesting careful layering to achieve depth in the flesh tones. These formal qualities align with 18th‑century portrait conventions yet retain a personal immediacy characteristic of Therbusch’s self‑portraiture.
History & Provenance
The Self Portrait by Anna Dorothea Therbusch was created in 1740, executed in oil paint on canvas and measuring 52 by 43 centimetres. The work entered the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst, where it is currently held. No further details regarding an earlier ownership chain, commission, or intermediate provenance are documented in the available sources.
The painting is catalogued as a self-portrait of the artist herself, with the sitter depicted as a woman. Beyond the date of inception and its present institutional home, the surviving records do not specify circumstances of commission, prior owners, or successive custody prior to acquisition by the Danish national gallery.
The painting is held by Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, where it is recorded as inventory number KMSsp885.
It has been exhibited by the museum in the display of its 18th-century European collection, as documented in the museum’s 2018 reinstallation of the permanent galleries.
Overview
Anna Dorothea Therbusch’s self‑portrait, executed in oil in 1740, presents the artist at nineteen years of age. The painting belongs to the Rococo period and is part of the Statens Museum for Kunst’s collection. It is one of roughly two hundred works that have survived from Therbusch’s prolific output.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Anna Dorothea Therbusch (born Anna Dorothea Lisiewski, Polish: Anna Dorota Lisiewska, 23 July 1721 – 9 November 1782) was a prominent Rococo painter born in the Kingdom of Prussia.
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