Self-Portrait as a Young Man
In a career spanning a tumultuous period of French history, Vivant Denon held an impressive variety of posts, including diplomat and museum director. His graphic skills would serve many purposes throughout his career, from recording condemned aristocrats on the way to the guillotine to documenting Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1798. Here, many years before the French Revolution, he portrayed himself in a softly lit interior as a young artist working on a drawing.
As Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey pointed out in 2015 (see references), this drawings seems to have been the model for an etching by Denon, where the head alone appears in reverse direction (see 22.69.21).
As Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey pointed out in 2015 (see references), this drawings seems to have been the model for an etching by Denon, where the head alone appears in reverse direction (see 22.69.21).
Artwork Details
- Title: Self-Portrait as a Young Man
- Artist: Baron Dominique Vivant Denon (French, Givry 1747–1825 Paris)
- Date: ca. 1780
- Medium: Pen and black ink over graphite; framing lines in pen and brown ink
- Dimensions: Sheet: 6 7/16 x 6 1/8 in. (16.3 x 15.6 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2012
- Object Number: 2012.150.5
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
More Artwork
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Baron Dominique Vivant Denon
Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)
1792
Baron Dominique Vivant Denon
18th–19th century
Baron Dominique Vivant Denon
1800–25
Multiple artists/makers
1829
Multiple artists/makers
1829
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