Self-portrait

Ceán Bermúdez had already emphasised Paret’s early skill for small-format painting in 1800. He observed that it was the painter’s master, Charles de la Traverse (1726–1787), who realised that ‘he was inclined towards painting small and medium size figures’, so he ‘left him to go his own way, providing him with opportune rules on the genre, which were of such a success that his works were very soon after praised in Court’. Indeed, one of the features that characterise this artist and that constitutes one of his greatest achievements is his ability to portray very small figures, but with extraordinarily detail and refinement. It is no surprise that he dedicated himself to a genre such as the miniature and that he achieved the same level of quality as in his other productions.

This is, nevertheless, one of the few works that are known. It is considered, with some reservations, a self-portrait of the artist. When compared with Self-portrait of the Artist in his Studio (P007701), it leaves no doubts to this fact. Several features are identical in both portraits: his hairstyle in a widow’s peak, his dark and bushy eyebrows, his large blue eyes with long eyelashes, his nose with a small hump, and his full lips. They even share the incipient beard and the lack of a wig. It is evident that they were painted on relatively close dates.

This miniature is Paret’s first known self-portrait out of four. Here the artist is depicted in a bust portrait and turned to his left in three-quarters length. He wears powdered hair that has been combed with curls over his ears and tied back in a ponytail with a solitary black ribbon (generally in silk satin) that, after he tied it at the back of his head, he turned it to the front to decorate his neck like a tie. This fashion, which was successful back then in France, reveals his tastes and influences. For its part, the disposition of the dress coat indicates the uniqueness of the artist. It is similar both in colour and lapel shapes to that in Self-portrait of the Artist in his Studio, as they seem to be knit in blue silk with red trimmings and gold edging. Nonetheless, in this case, it is not a majo jacket, and the right lapel – on which the buttonholes are clearly visible – appears unfolded, projecting towards the collar, so that the flower-shaped ribbon of the strass is above it. This is a feature that denotes informality or familiarity, which, together with his cheerful, confident gesture, leads to the thought that it was intended as a coat holster portrait, possibly for María de las Nieves Micaela Fourdinier, whom he secretly married in July 1775.

In this delightful self-portrait, Paret combines a refined technique of stippling and scratching, typical of miniatures, with the particular way of achieving detail and brilliance in his oil paintings, especially in the hair, the strass and the jacket. The thin ivory plate on which it is painted was possibly originally glued to a thick paper that has allowed the support to maintain its integrity.

Albarrán, Virginia, 'Luis Paret y Alcázar. Autorretrato' En :. Paret, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2022, p.121-123 nº22