Self Portrait

Unknown Artist

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this bold self-portrait, a miniature painter depicts himself with the tools of his trade, including paint brushes and an oval ivory palette with watercolor pigments (similar to those on display nearby). Seated in a colonial side chair and fashionably dressed in an embroidered blue waistcoat, he pauses from painting a miniature portrait of a young woman to meet the viewer’s gaze. Although the artist’s identity remains unknown, he is believed to have been biracial and likely worked in or around New Orleans, Louisiana, where this self-portrait was discovered.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art