Self-Portrait of the Artist in His Studio Artist: Thomas Hovenden (American, born Ireland, 1840–1895)

1875

American Paintings and Sculpture

On view, 2nd floor, American Art before 1900


Painted while Thomas Hovenden was studying art in Paris, this self-portrait celebrates the arts of literature, music, and painting—with painting paramount. Prominently inscribed "Hovenden/Paris 1875," Self-Portrait of the Artist in His Studio dramatizes Hovenden's surrender to the artistic culture of Paris and his evolving sense of self. A disheveled bohemian figure, Hovendon contemplates his large canvas while smoking meditatively and holding a violin against a backdrop of books. The daringly foreshortened, twisted pose is reminiscent of figures by his École des Beaux-Arts master, Alexandre Cabanel.


Hovenden reached artistic maturity in France and returned to the United States, where he eventually became an important teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Just as he was becoming recognized as one of the preeminent genre painters in America, his life ended tragically in 1895 in a failed attempt to rescue a child from an oncoming train.

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

26 5/8 × 17 5/8 in. (67.6 × 44.8 cm)

Credit Line

Mabel Brady Garvan and John H. Niemeyer Funds

Accession Number

1969.28

Geography

Made in Paris, France

Culture

American

Period

19th century

Classification

Paintings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Bibliography
  • Richard H. Saunders, American Faces: A Cultural History of Portraiture and Identity (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2016), 118, fig. 5.2
  • Lawrence William White Irish Arts Review (Autumn 2010), 97, ill. 2, ill
  • Helen A. Cooper et al., Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2008), 326–27, no. 209, ill
  • Kathleen Adler, Americans in Paris, 1860–1900, exh. cat. (London: The National Gallery of Art, London, 2006), 58, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

human figures (visual works), self-portraits

Subject

books chairs music windows

Signed

Signed l.r. "Hovenden" and "Paris 1875"

Technical metadata and APIs

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