Self-Portrait
1604
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
1604
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Self-Portrait is a 1604 ink by Ottavio Leoni, a Renaissance work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This is a black-and-white drawing of a man’s head and shoulders, framed in a circle. His curly hair and mustache are detailed with tight, crisscrossed lines. The collar of his shirt peeks out under a loose neckline, and his gaze feels direct. The artist used tiny, overlapping lines to build up shadows and texture—this is called cross-hatching. It’s a trick to make flat paper look three-dimensional. Next, check out the technique: cross-hatching to see how it works.
