03 — ARTWORK
Self-Portrait
- MEDIUM
- Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 cm
- TYPE
- Portrait
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 1017 × 1400 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
This fine, forceful and romantic self-portraitThe Roman portrait bust survived in the form of life-sized reliquaries of saints, but it was in 15th century Florence that the individual features and character of a contemporary sitter were accurately recorded by sculptors such as Donatello, Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole and the Rossellino. A similar degree of realism occurs in 15th century tomb sculpture. The equestrian portrait, based on antique statues such as the Marcus Aurelius monument (Rome, Campidoglio), was revived in the 14th century. Two examples in fresco are Simone Martini's Guidoriccio (c. 1328; Siena, Palazzo Pubblico) and the posthumous portrait of Sir John Hawkwood (1436; Florence, Cathedral) by Uccello, which gives the illusion of a 3-dimensional statue seen from below. The Venetian Republic ordered imposing monuments from Donatello (1447; Gattarnelata, Padua) and Verrocchio (14799; Colleoni, Venice), whilst other statesmen ordered their own images to be erected in public places, directly relating themselves to the military heroes of ancient Rome. Another form of political portraiture derived from antiquity was the commemorative portrait medal designed by artists such as Pisanello. The carved or painted profile portrait became popular in the 1450s. The realism of the clear, flattened image, painted under the influence of Flemish examples by the Pollaiuolo brothers, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli, was superseded by the three-quarter and frontal portrait, psychologically more complex, such as Leonardo's enigmatic Mona Lisa (Paris, Louvre) with her momentary smile or Andrea del Sarto's arresting Portrait of a Man (London, National Gallery). The 16th century portrait became generalized, Lotto's Andrea Odoni (1527; Royal Collection) being an idealized concept of a collector rather than an individual. Group portraits, decorating whole rooms, include the narrative scenes of the Gonzaga court painted by Mantegna (completed 1474; Mantua, Palazzo Ducale) and the elaborate schemes commissioned by the Farnese family in Rome from Vasari (1546; Palazzo della Cancelleria) and Salviati (after 1553; Palazzo Farnese). Portraits were also incorporated into religious narratives, as in Ghirlandaio's fresco cycle painted for Giovanni Tornabuoni in S. Maria Novella, Florence (1486-90). of the young Székely is one of the masterpieces of nineteenth-century Hungarian portraiture. His face, posture and whole being radiate strength of mind, intelligence and youthful self-esteem. It shows a man who is aware of his talent and vocation. This early painting by Székely, who was otherwise of a philosophical nature, is one of his most freshly painted works, bearing no trace of hesitation or theoretical meditation. The warm grey-brown shades of the background and his hair and overcoat give great plasticity to details of his face, painted in light tones.
Apart from artistic considerations, Bertalan Székely was concerned with expressing the firm intellect and morals of the artist friends and contemporaries he painted, and all his portraits are permeated with warm emotion.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r501bbc39f14def,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Self-Portrait by SZÉKELY, Bertalan},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/szkely-bertalan-r64d980f9c699b4/self-portrait-r501bbc39f14def},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
