"Self-Portrait," by Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)

Self-Portrait

Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)

1877

Oil on canvas

Source: Ford, facing p. 1.

Commentary and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee

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Ford Madox Brown's grandson and biographer Ford Madox Ford considered this one of his grandfather's most important paintings (311), a "work of singular excellence" (314). One arm resting on the chair-arm, the other hand holding his palette, the artist looks directly out of the canvas against a background that looks like burnished and beaten copper with a blossom design. Ford writes:

We see the artist a man of great handsomeness of a masculine cast Roman-nosed, broad of forehead, with rather long, almond-shaped eyes; the face rather oval and broad at the cheeks. The profuse grey hair, carefully parted in the middle, and falling mane-like on each side, and the sweeping grey beard, beginning to grow white, impart an almost patriarchal air to a face otherwise vigorous enough. The dominant mien is a rather defiant, suspicious one; but the expression was not habitual with him. In later years his face, unless otherwise excited, was habitually benign I had nearly said sweet in expression. (313-14)

Bibliography

Ford, Ford Madox. Ford Madox Brown: A Record of His Life and Work. London: Longmans, 1896. Internet Archive. Web. 4 May 2012.

Last modified 4 May 2012