Medieval Self-Portraits: Ten Artists Who Put Themselves in the Picture - Medievalists.net

"Medieval artists did not just paint saints and kings-they sometimes slipped themselves into the scene, leaving behind portraits that can be devotional, witty, and surprisingly personal. From monks and manuscript painters to sculptors and court artists, these self-portraits offer glimpses of how people in the Middle Ages wanted to be seen. In his book The Self-Portrait: A Cultural History, James Hall examines how this style of art emerged and developed over the last thousand years."

"While he was at Glastonbury, he produced a Latin grammar book, and on the frontispiece he drew a giant figure of Christ. Dunstan then placed a much smaller portrait of himself beside Christ, making it both a personal statement and a devotional act, and he added a short prayer: "I ask, merciful Christ, that you may protect me, Dunstan, and that you do not let the Taenerian storms drown me.""

Medieval artists sometimes inserted self-portraits into devotional and secular works, producing images that could be devotional, witty, and personal. Monks, manuscript painters, sculptors, and court artists used self-images to shape how they were seen socially and spiritually. Self-portraiture in the Middle Ages often tied to Christian concerns such as personal salvation, honour, and love. Examples include St Dunstan placing a small portrait of himself beside Christ in a grammar book frontispiece with a protective prayer, and the Bohemian lay painter Hildebertus portraying himself at a lectern, accompanied by his assistant Everwinus and identifying inscriptions.

Read at Medievalists.net