Self-Portrait as a Lute Player is a painting by the Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. Executed between 1616 and 1618, it hangs in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, US.[1][2]
Self-Portrait as a Lute Player | |
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Artist | Artemisia Gentileschi ![]() |
Year | 1610s |
Dimensions | 77.5 cm (30.5 in) × 71.8 cm (28.3 in) |
Collection | Wadsworth Atheneum, Villa Medici ![]() |
Identifiers | RKDimages ID: 266098 |
The artist depicts herself in the guise of a "gypsy-musician", denoted by the headscarf and low-cut blouse; these style of entertainers would have appeared at Italian court performances.[3] The accurate depiction of the lute as well as the finger positioning has led historians to believe that the artist had first-hand experience with the instrument.[3] The composition is closely related to two other contemporaneous depictions of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, which suggests that the artist was using her self-portraits as a means of establishing her reputation in Florence.[3]
It is believed to have been painted for the Medici family in Florence, based on a 1638 inventory of Villa Medici in Artimino.[4] From 1683, its provenance is unknown until it was sold at Sotheby's London in 1998.[3]