Self-Portrait
1812
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Joseph Paelinck
Joseph Paelinck (1781–1839) was an artist, born in Ghent.
See the richer artist page1812
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Self-Portrait is a 1812 unspecified by Joseph Paelinck, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This is a self-portrait of a young man in a high-collared coat, his dark hair neatly combed. He looks straight at you with a calm, confident gaze. Paelinck painted this around 1812, when he was studying in Paris with Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon’s court painter. The clothes he wears—soft colors, precise tailoring—show the fashion of the time, not the grand historical costumes David usually painted. It’s a quiet moment of self-assurance, not a dramatic scene. If you like this, look up *chiaroscuro*—the way artists use light and shadow to shape a face.
Born in a small village in Belgium, Paelinck attended a local drawing academy as a youth. His skill earned him a scholarship to study in Paris where he worked with Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825), the leading French neoclassical master and official court painter of Napoleon I. Paelinck later moved to Rome to study ancient art firsthand and to participate in the city's lively international art scene. Paelinck's attire shows him as a dandy, wearing fashionable, subtly colored clothes. Over his black suit, he wears a box-coat—a garment having a wide, velvet collar originally associated with…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Joseph Paelinck (1781–1839) was an artist, born in Ghent.
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