Discovered by the Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM) possibly one of the earliest self-portraits of the post-impressionist painter, Paul Cézanne, hidden under the 1865 work entitled “Still Life with Bread and Eggs”. The work may depict Cézanne in his mid-thirties, decades before he developed his ink and began painting the idyllic French countryside. At the time, the artist was deep in his so-called “dark period”.
The painting has been in the CAM collection since 1955 and was exhibited last spring. It was then examined by lead maintainer Serena Urry for potential maintenance. He noticed that the cracks in the canvas – typical of works of this age – instead of being scattered, were concentrated in two places. In addition, they seemed to reveal white color underneath.
There are few self-portraits from this period of Cézanne, but the museum he thinks this might be one of his first. Urry told CNN that the model’s position is an indication that he was painting himself. When he did portraits of others, the model usually looks straight ahead, while here he sits at an angle.
*external file photo
Source: News Beast
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