Self Portrait in Studio was painted on a four and one fourth inch by three and one half inch oak wood panel in oil paint in 1645. The composition features a bust length portrait of a youthful, humbly dressed Gillis Van Tilborgh II hunched before an easel in his studio. Tilborgh gazes off past the viewer, observing himself in a mirror. In his hands he holds his painter’s palette and paint brush, mid-stroke, on the canvas. His plump mouth slightly pursed in concentration, eyebrows are slightly raised, and his eyes are wide and focused as he studies his features.

This particular painting shares many technical attributes with that of low-life genre style painting of the time period. Tilborgh worked in both low-life and high-life genre scenes, as well as portrait work throughout his career. Unfortunately, not much is known of Tilborgh’s early works. In fact, this particular painting was attributed to two other artists before discovering Tilborgh II as the true artist. It is apparent that he enjoyed working in a low-life genre tradition of painting during this time in his career. The paint strokes are quick and unrefined and the color palette consists of earthy tones. During this time, artists’ portraits such as these could have been used to advertise the artist’s skills and painting style. Since many of Tilborgh’s early works follow the style of low-life genre, it is fitting that his self-portrait would be painted in that way.

By Lena Thrasher

 

Annotated Bibliography: http://smalltreasures.as.ua.edu/?p=332