Self-Portrait in Rome (1832): Art, History and Details

Self-Portrait in Rome (1832) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Horace Vernet (French, 1789–1863).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Vernet stands before the Villa Medici, seat of the French Academy in Rome, where he was director from 1829 to 1835. The palette, brushes, and maulstick on the stepladder hint at his talent for painting large canvases. The artist's sideward glance, disheveled hair, and burning cigarette lend him a romantic aura. The recipient of numerous commissions for military paintings, Vernet was patronized by Jérôme Bonaparte (the youngest brother of Napoleon) and later taught at the École des Beaux-Arts.

Object facts

• Title: Self-Portrait in Rome
• Date: 1832
• Creator attribution: Horace Vernet (French, 1789–1863)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 78.5 x 67 x 8 cm (30 7/8 x 26 3/8 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 65 x 54.2 cm (25 9/16 x 21 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1977.171

A detail from the museum

The paper cigarette held by the artist in this self-portrait is a testament to his up-to-date stylishness; the paper cigarette was invented in 1831.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Zakon, Ronnie L. The Artist and the Studio in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
• "La Chronique des Arts." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 93 (April 1979): 1-84.
• Brunel, Georges. Horace Vernet (1789-1863): [exposition] Académie de France à Rome, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, mars-juillet 1980. Roma: De Luca, 1980.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.