Nic Mooney -- Albrecht Dürer

If one thinks about it, the idea of a self portrait can seem quite strange. In western civilization, art was first used for religious purposes, and then for portraits of nobility and royalty. The idea that somebody would paint him or herself, rather than bowing to the wishes of a family or serving a loftier religious purpose seems rather self involved -- or independent. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was one of the first prolific European portrait artists. I find this work from 1500 to be especially interesting, as he clearly painted himself to look like the Western convention of Jesus, from the face to the gesture. An artist painting him or herself to resemble Jesus seems like a pretty cliche idea today -- Jesus in contemporary art is rather tepid -- but it's shocking for the 14th century. I want to crawl into his mind: Was he skewering conventions? Was he egotistical? Was it simply unconscious? The intentions artists have behind their self-portraits are mysterious and fascinating.