Self-Portrait with Cap

The leading portrait painter of the second quarter of the eighteenth century, Richardson also wrote the first significant English work of art theory. In his essay he attempted to elevate the status of portrait painters, typically considered mere copiers of likeness, by equating their works to those of history painters. In his view, a portrait served as "a general history of the life of the person it represents." Richardson's drawings, considered among his most attractive works, put his theory into practice by emphasizing the sitter's character and accomplishments. This self-portrait reveals its author as a man of intellect. Dressed in a cap, traditional attire of scholars and artists, he turns toward the viewer with a penetrating gaze created through the darkness of the pupils, the slight lift of the eyebrows, and the firm line of the mouth. Richardson's writings remained influential into the nineteenth century. The display of his portrait would have been viewed as a sign of its owner's intellectual sophistication.