Self-Portrait

Artist Marie de Médicis, Queen consort of Henry IV (French, 1573 - 1642)

Date1587

MediumWoodcut

DimensionsMat: 9 3/4 x 5 3/8 in. (24.7 x 13.6 cm) Sheet: 11 1/8 x 7 3/16 in. (28.2 x 18.3 cm)

Credit LineGift of Karen and Robert Hoehn

CultureFrench

Catalogue raisonnéRobert-Dumesnil 1

Object numberPC2020.20

ClassificationsPrint Collection

DescriptionAttributed to Marie de Médicis. Bust self-portrait in profile view of the young Marie de Médicis, before her marriage to Henry IV, King of France. She wears a headdress from which her plaited hair winds out, covering her ears. Her dress has a high neckline, adorned with a flower-pattern trim. Her name and date of portrait are inscribed below the bust: Maria Medici F. / MDLXXXVII
InterpretationsThis bust-length portrait has been attributed to Marie de Médicis, crowned the Queen of France in 1610. She was born in 1575 into the powerful and wealthy Medici family, the famed patrons of Florentine art dating to the 15th century. She received a good education, including drawing lessons from Mannerist painter Jacopo Ligozzi. This self-portrait, executed in woodcut, may date from her teenage years. The attribution is based on a notation found on another impression of this woodcut in the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, which once resided in the French Royal Collection. The original woodblock matrix for the print had supposedly been gifted to the painter Philippe de Champaigne (1602-1674), who appended (in French) a note on the reverse side of the block: (On Friday 22 February 1629, the queen mother, Marie de Medicis, thought me worthy of this rare present, engraved by her own hand)." (Source: The British Museum). - John Murphy, Curatorial Fellow for Prints

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