Public domain
Self-Portrait at the Easel
From the collection of Kunstmuseum Basel. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The small Basel panel of the daughter of the Antwerp painter Jan Sanders van Hemessen gains significance as the oldest known self-portrait by a female painter. Also interesting is the detailed depiction of the painting process with all the utensils required for it. Two other versions dated 1548, nearly identical to this one, are preserved in St. Petersburg (Hermitage, Inv. ??-10062) and Cape Town (The Michaelis Collection, The Old Town House, Inv. 62/1); see Droz-Emmert 2004, fig.
Kunstmuseum Basel’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineSelbstbildnis an der Staffelei. 1548. Catharina van Hemessen (1528–nach 1567). Kunstmuseum Basel, Schenkung der Prof. J.J. Bachofen-Burckhardt-Stiftung. Public domain.
