self portrait essay

• Essay Topic Generator
• Summary Generator
• Thesis Maker Academic
• Sentence Rephraser
• Read My Paper
• Hypothesis Generator
• Cover Page Generator
• Text Compactor
• Essay Scrambler
• Essay Plagiarism Checker
• Hook Generator
• AI Writing Checker
• Notes Maker
• Overnight Essay Writing
• Topic Ideas
• Writing Tips
• Essay Writing (by Genre)
• Essay Writing (by Topic)

Self-Portrait Essay: Examples and How to Write a Portrait

A portrait essay presents a personality to the readers. It usually focuses on the aspects of life that are the most exciting or unique.

It comprises two types of papers: a self-portrait essay and a portrait of another person. This article explains how to write these assignments with utmost efficiency. You will find the best tips, ideas, and samples to describe yourself or someone else as precisely as possible.

👧 Self-Portrait Essay

A self-portrait essay is a piece of writing that describes the author’s looks and personal qualities . It uses evocative images and characteristic details to show why this person stands out from the crowd. As a rule, it is a descriptive or reflective essay. Still, it can be argumentative if you want to contradict someone else’s opinion about you.

How to Write a Self-Portrait

Below you’ll find several ideas for a self-portrait essay. These are just general guidelines. If you need a creative and well-formulated topic, you are welcome to use our topic-generating tool .

• Start the introduction with an introduction. We are not talking about “Hi, my name is Cathy,” although this variant is also possible in some contexts. Tell about your family and where you live. Do not just list facts as if you are answering a questionnaire. Make up a background story.
• Imagine yourself a book character. How would you describe yourself if you wrote a book about your life ? This approach can make your self-portrait essay more poetic and literary. Replace the epithets that can describe many people (straight nose, thin lips, high forehead) with metaphors (a nose as straight as an arrow, paper-thin lips, expansive forehead). It will make your essay more memorable.
• Speak about objects & stories. Appearance is only a tiny part of your personality. Your life consists of items you like, people you love, and stories you create. That’s what you readers will enjoy reading!
• Conclude with your hopes for the future. Do not reiterate what you said before, even if you cannot imagine anything new. Write how you would like to develop your skills or become a better professional in the future. Make your essay open-ended, as any human life is.

Self-Portrait Essay Example

Who am I? What kind of person am I? What do I like? What do I want to become? In this essay, I will describe my appearance and how it reflects my inner world. Looking in the mirror, I see a slender but slightly skinny girl. I have an oval face, a small straight nose, and sparkling eyes. It is the eyes that make my friends and acquaintances look at my face. They are profound, although they add playfulness to my face. In cloudy weather, they acquire a dark steel shade. When it is sunny, they brighten up. In general, I have kind gray eyes. As my friends say, it seems that they “laugh.” That’s what I am all about. I am kind, cheerful, moderately strict, and responsive. I have a high forehead, hidden behind curtain bangs, and beautiful thick eyebrows of the correct shape hidden under the bangs. But this is not a gift from nature. I had to work on the form of the eyebrows on my own. My lips are not thin, but not full either. Behind them, there are snow-white teeth. The hair is straight, although I always wanted to have curls. It is wheat-colored and reaches the shoulders. I am a purposeful person, so I always set tasks that I immediately try to accomplish. But I never stop in my development. I raise the bar even higher and confidently put the next goal. It is essential for me to be the best in everything, so I have to work harder. Most likely, this is my drawback, but this quality fuels me to keep on growing. I would like to become firm, successful, and self-confident.

👨‍🎨️ Descriptive Portrait Essay

A descriptive essay about a person is a genre that analyzes the individual features and human qualities of a given person. People have so many different sides that there is a broad array of possibilities in this genre. Write of someone you know well enough (to have sufficient material).

Essay About a Person: Ideas

Below you’ll find six great ideas for an essay about a person.

• Describe appearance . First impressions are the most lasting . Your readers will get your message better if you give them a “picture.” It will play the role of a whiteboard where you’ll attack all the other traits.
• Link appearance to personality traits . But looks are not everything. They are the top of the iceberg. Show your reader why you paid attention to those characteristics and which conclusions you made.
• Mention their manners . It is optional but quite exciting to track. We are not stable, and our manners reflect those emotional shifts. Describe how the person behaves in stressful situations .
• Spot the emotions they raise in you . This part will make a perfect conclusion. Share your feelings with the readers to build empathy.
• Balance between being concise and informative . Avoid overwhelming your reader with irrelevant details. If the described person is someone you know well, it may be challenging to point out what is worth mentioning and what is not.
• Learn how to describe from professionals . If you wish to learn how to write, you should read a lot. In particular, you should read works of the same genre. Write down the metaphors and epithets your favorite author uses in their character descriptions.

How to Write a Portrait

We have prepared for you a mini guide on how to write a portrait of a person. Just follow these 8 simple steps:

• Collect information about a person . It is crucial to write about a person you know well, like a close friend, a classmate, or a family member. Consider conducting an interview with this person or talking with other people who know this individual to gain more insights and observations.
• Create a thesis and an outline . Choose interesting details, anecdotes, unique features, or qualities of your chosen person that are worth describing in your essay. Organize all the information logically in an outline to make writing easier. Also, create a thesis statement, which must include the person you write about and your purpose for describing them.
• Start with a physical description . At this stage, you need to be as specific as possible. Try to describe not only the appearance of the person but add details about their smell, voice, etc.
• Describe the behavior . Focus on what makes this person unique — their laugh, a manner of talking, a way of moving, etc.
• Demonstrate your character’s reputation . To do so, show how your described person makes others feel, treats others, and contributes to the world.
• Show your character’s environment and belongings . A person’s environment and belongings can reveal much about their personality, interests, and values. So, include details about what things are important to your described individual and whether their environment looks tidy, cluttered, dirty, etc.
• Write about their manner of speech . Describe the person’s choice of words and intonation to reflect their education level, confidence or fear, and unique worldview.
• Conclude by summarizing unique qualities . In your last paragraph, summarize what makes your described person unique. Add a concluding sentence conveying the final impression they have made on you.

Descriptive Portrait Essay Example

My best friend is a person who deserves a separate book. She had a complicated but interesting life. She is the third child in a large family and wants to become a nurse. I will dedicate this essay to her features and personal qualities to show that you can be a good person despite anything. Mary’s appearance is unremarkable and even plain. She is tall and plump, and her gestures are indecisive. The girl seems to be shy, but she becomes very confident when her family or values are harmed. One could see a strict line between her eyebrows. It marks her inner strength and decisiveness. The look of her grey eyes is attentive and benevolent. It helps her win the interlocutor in an argument. By the way, communication skills are the strongest part of her character. She is open and cheerful but sometimes too impulsive. The way she speaks and behaves comforts me, like a cold winter evening in front of a fireplace. She is kind and caring, and always does her best to make any interaction pleasurable. Still, when someone acts with hypocrisy, she prefers to break up with such a person. It is hard for Mary to give people a second chance. This feature has its drawbacks, but it also makes her friends’ circle tight and reliable. Mary wants to become a nursery teacher because she loves children. At the moment, she is studying for that, and I am sure she will succeed. This girl has taught me that people can combine mutually exclusive features in themselves and remain to be nice friends and intelligent specialists.

We hope we’ve inspired you to write your portrait essay. If you have already written your text and want it to be read aloud, you are welcome to use our text-to-speech tool .

❓ Portrait Essay FAQ

How to write a portrait essay.

1. Make a list of the most remarkable facial features and character traits of the person in question. 2. Relate the above to their character. 3. Group your findings into categories. 4. Dedicate one main body paragraph to each category.

How to Start a Portrait Essay?

Any essay should start with background information. In the case of a portrait essay, you could mention how you got to know the person or what your first impression was. Or, you can give general information about their family and work. Finish your introduction with a thesis statement, informing the reader of the purpose of your writing.

How to Write a Self-portrait Essay?

1. Sit in front of the mirror and think about which of your features differ you from other people. 2. Write the main body, dedicating each paragraph to a different aspect of your appearance. 3. Write the introduction about what kind of person you are and how you came to the place where you are now. 4. Write the conclusion about your future intentions.

How Do You Write a Character Portrait Essay?

1. Carefully read all the author’s descriptions of the character. 2. Link them to the plot as most characters reveal themselves gradually. 3. Think what impressed you the most about the character. 4. Write your opinion using the image the author created and your own imagination.

🔗 References

• Descriptive Essays | Purdue Online Writing Lab
• Descriptive Essay Examples – YourDictionary
• How to Give a Description of a Character – wikiHow
• How to Write About Yourself | Indeed.com
• 7 Helpful Tips on How to Write a Memorable Personal Essay
• Personal Essay Topics and Prompts – ThoughtCo

Have a language expert improve your writing

Check your paper for plagiarism in 10 minutes, generate your apa citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• College essay

How to Write About Yourself in a College Essay | Examples

Published on September 21, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on May 31, 2023.

An insightful college admissions essay requires deep self-reflection, authenticity, and a balance between confidence and vulnerability. Your essay shouldn’t just be a resume of your experiences; colleges are looking for a story that demonstrates your most important values and qualities.

To write about your achievements and qualities without sounding arrogant, use specific stories to illustrate them. You can also write about challenges you’ve faced or mistakes you’ve made to show vulnerability and personal growth.

Table of contents

Start with self-reflection, how to write about challenges and mistakes, how to write about your achievements and qualities, how to write about a cliché experience, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Before you start writing, spend some time reflecting to identify your values and qualities. You should do a comprehensive brainstorming session, but here are a few questions to get you started:

• What are three words your friends or family would use to describe you, and why would they choose them?
• Whom do you admire most and why?
• What are the top five things you are thankful for?
• What has inspired your hobbies or future goals?
• What are you most proud of? Ashamed of?

As you self-reflect, consider how your values and goals reflect your prospective university’s program and culture, and brainstorm stories that demonstrate the fit between the two.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Writing about difficult experiences can be an effective way to show authenticity and create an emotional connection to the reader, but choose carefully which details to share, and aim to demonstrate how the experience helped you learn and grow.

Be vulnerable

It’s not necessary to have a tragic story or a huge confession. But you should openly share your thoughts, feelings, and experiences to evoke an emotional response from the reader. Even a cliché or mundane topic can be made interesting with honest reflection. This honesty is a preface to self-reflection and insight in the essay’s conclusion.

Don’t overshare

With difficult topics, you shouldn’t focus too much on negative aspects. Instead, use your challenging circumstances as a brief introduction to how you responded positively.

Share what you have learned

It’s okay to include your failure or mistakes in your essay if you include a lesson learned. After telling a descriptive, honest story, you should explain what you learned and how you applied it to your life.

While it’s good to sell your strengths, you also don’t want to come across as arrogant. Instead of just stating your extracurricular activities, achievements, or personal qualities, aim to discreetly incorporate them into your story.

Brag indirectly

Mention your extracurricular activities or awards in passing, not outright, to avoid sounding like you’re bragging from a resume.

Use stories to prove your qualities

Even if you don’t have any impressive academic achievements or extracurriculars, you can still demonstrate your academic or personal character. But you should use personal examples to provide proof. In other words, show evidence of your character instead of just telling.

Many high school students write about common topics such as sports, volunteer work, or their family. Your essay topic doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, but do try to include unexpected personal details and your authentic voice to make your essay stand out .

To find an original angle, try these techniques:

• Focus on a specific moment, and describe the scene using your five senses.
• Mention objects that have special significance to you.
• Instead of following a common story arc, include a surprising twist or insight.

Your unique voice can shed new perspective on a common human experience while also revealing your personality. When read out loud, the essay should sound like you are talking.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

First, spend time reflecting on your core values and character . You can start with these questions:

However, you should do a comprehensive brainstorming session to fully understand your values. Also consider how your values and goals match your prospective university’s program and culture. Then, brainstorm stories that illustrate the fit between the two.

When writing about yourself , including difficult experiences or failures can be a great way to show vulnerability and authenticity, but be careful not to overshare, and focus on showing how you matured from the experience.

Through specific stories, you can weave your achievements and qualities into your essay so that it doesn’t seem like you’re bragging from a resume.

Include specific, personal details and use your authentic voice to shed a new perspective on a common human experience.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Courault, K. (2023, May 31). How to Write About Yourself in a College Essay | Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/college-essay/write-about-yourself/

Is this article helpful?

Kirsten Courault

Other students also liked, style and tone tips for your college essay | examples, what do colleges look for in an essay | examples & tips, how to make your college essay stand out | tips & examples, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".

I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes”

45,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today

Meet top uk universities from the comfort of your home, here’s your new year gift, one app for all your, study abroad needs, start your journey, track your progress, grow with the community and so much more.

Verification Code

An OTP has been sent to your registered mobile no. Please verify

Thanks for your comment !

Our team will review it before it's shown to our readers.

• Career Counselling /

Self Portrait Essay Introduction

• Updated on  
• Nov 9, 2023

A self-portrait essay is an opportunity to dive deep into one’s own self-psyche and explore the various facets of their personality, experiences, and emotions. It is a form of autobiographical writing that allows individuals to express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences through their own unique lens. In this type of essay, the writer becomes both the subject and the author, painting a vivid picture of themselves for the reader.

A self-portrait essay is not only a means of self-expression but also a powerful tool for self-discovery, reflection, and growth. In this essay, one will explore the various aspects of their personality, experiences, and emotions, and present an introduction of themselves to the reader to gain a deeper understanding of who they are as an individual. 

Individuals can refer to this blog, to know and understand how to write a self-portrait essay introduction. 

This Blog Includes:

How to write a self-portrait essay introduction , points to include in your self-portrait essay, self portrait sample.

Writing an introduction for a self-portrait essay can be an interesting and reflective exercise. Here are some steps you can follow to write a successful self-portrait essay:

• Brainstorm: Start by brainstorming about yourself. Think about your personality, experiences, strengths, weaknesses, and how they have shaped you as a person. Jot down notes and ideas that come to your mind.
• Introduction: Start your essay with a catchy introduction that sets the tone for your essay. You can use a quote, an anecdote, or a question to engage the reader.
• Personal background: Provide some background information about yourself, including where you grew up, your family, and any significant events that have influenced your life.
• Personal qualities: Describe your personality traits, including your strengths and weaknesses. Discuss how these traits have impacted your life and relationships.
• Accomplishments: Write about your accomplishments, both big and small. Talk about what you have achieved and what you are proud of.
• Challenges: Discuss the challenges you have faced in your life and how you have overcome them. This can be a powerful way to show your resilience and strength.
• Goals: Talk about your goals, both short-term and long-term. Explain what motivates you and what you hope to achieve in the future.

Conclude your essay by summarizing your main points and leaving the reader with a final thought or reflection.

Also Read: How to Handle Tough Interview Questions with Ease

When writing a self-portrait essay, there are several things you can mention to provide a comprehensive and insightful depiction of yourself. Here are some ideas:

• Personal Identity: You can start by mentioning your name, age, place of birth, family background, and any other significant details about your upbringing that have contributed to your identity. Discuss your relationships with family, friends, and significant others, and how they have impacted your life.
• Personality Traits: Describe your personality, including your strengths and weaknesses, your likes and dislikes, your values, and your beliefs.
• Education and Career: Mention your academic qualifications, any degrees or certifications earned, and your current or past profession.
• Hobbies and Interests: Mention any hobbies, sports, or activities you enjoy, and how they have influenced your life.
• Accomplishments: Highlight your achievements, both personal and professional, that you are most proud of.
• Examples of Overcoming Obstacles: Discuss any challenges or obstacles you have faced in life, and how you overcame them with the help of examples. Do not forget to add what you learned from them. 
• Goals and Aspirations: Mention your short-term and long-term goals, and what you hope to achieve in life.

In the end, you can also share any unique experiences in your life. Share your experiences related to travel, volunteer work, or other notable events.

Also Read: How To Ace Your Self Introduction in Interview!

Here is a sample that you can refer to while writing a self-portrait essay introduction yourself: 

The self-portrait essay can be started by mentioning your name, native place, family background, and education, along with many other details.

A self-portrait essay is an opportunity to express yourself as an individual and introduce the reader to your various facets including your interests, native place, education or belongingness.

For more interesting blogs, check the links given below in the table.

For the latest blogs on Interview Preparation, Careers, and more, follow the Leverage Edu website and YouTube channel .

Aditi Gupta

A bachelors in Journalism and Mass Communication graduate, I am an enthusiastic writer. I love to write about impactful content which can help others. I love to binge watch and listen to music during my free time.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Contact no. *

Leaving already?

8 Universities with higher ROI than IITs and IIMs

Grab this one-time opportunity to download this ebook

Connect With Us

45,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. take the first step today..

Resend OTP in

Need help with?

Study abroad.

UK, Canada, US & More

IELTS, GRE, GMAT & More

Scholarship, Loans & Forex

Country Preference

New Zealand

Which English test are you planning to take?

Which academic test are you planning to take.

Not Sure yet

When are you planning to take the exam?

Already booked my exam slot

Within 2 Months

Want to learn about the test

Which Degree do you wish to pursue?

When do you want to start studying abroad.

January 2025

September 2025

What is your budget to study abroad?

How would you describe this article ?

Please rate this article

We would like to hear more.

Have something on your mind?

Home » Writers-House Blog » Self-Portrait Essays: Writing Tips

Self-Portrait Essays: Writing Tips

Self-portrait essays are aimed to describe the author. When writing a self-portrait essay, you should think of your audience and find the best approaches to describe yourself to its members. Use evocative images and specific details to make your description more vivid and engaging. Writing consultants from Writers-house.com service wrote this quick guide to help you write an outstanding self-portrait essay.

Think of Your Experiences

First, take your time and reflect on yourself. Think about your personality, your aspirations, and goals. What people you like to see around yourself? What you’d like to achieve in the future? We recommend that you choose a relatively challenging area to make your essay more engaging. For example, if you suffer from anxiety, you can describe how you overcome it to build relationships with other people. You may write about how you keep standing your ground despite the pressure from others. You may also write about your ethical, philosophical, or religious views. The main thing is to clearly define the focus of your essay.

Describe Yourself

You should begin your essay with an introduction. You need to introduce yourself and to provide a general description that will allow your readers to quickly learn the most important things about you. However, avoid simply listing the details about yourself because you don’t want the introduction to be boring. For example, if you want to say that you’re 16 years old, you can tell your readers how you and your parents moved to a new place 13 years ago, when you were three years old.

A good approach is to take a picture of yourself or take a look at your old pictures and describe what this picture can tell about you. For example, if you look happy on this picture, tell your readers about that day and why you were happy. A picture from the past is also a great opportunity to discuss how you’ve changed over time.

Tell Your Story

The main part of your essay must provide your readers with insights into the chosen area of yourself. When writing about some aspects of your life, make sure to illustrate them with specific events. Devote one body paragraph to one aspect, and provide some opinions. For example, you may mention a political argument with your family or explain what do you think about the overall quality of life in the town where you were born. You should show your personality and illustrate it with such details as events, locations, etc.

We recommend that you don’t use an opportunity to make your self-description more vivid by describing objects that surround your everyday life. For example, describe your room or tell your readers something about your hobbies and passions.

The Conclusion

The last paragraph of your essay should wrap it up and tie together all the pieces of information about yourself, creating a complete image. The conclusion is a great place to tell your readers what you think about your life now, and what you’re going to do in the future. We recommend that you don’t restate any information that you’ve already mentioned in the body of your essay. Don’t write a summary. Instead, provide a new perspective. Writing about your goals and plans is a great solution.

We also recommend that you conclude the essay by considering things you’ve been addressing in the introduction in a different light. If your introduction and conclusion are connected to each other, your essay will create a sense of completion. Make sure that different sections of your essay are logically connected to each other and your story is consistent.

Leave a Reply

Be the First to Comment!

Place your order

• Essay Writer
• Essay Writing Service
• Term Paper Writing
• Research Paper Writing
• Assignment Writing Service
• Cover Letter Writing
• CV Writing Service
• Resume Writing Service
• 5-Paragraph Essays
• Paper By Subjects
• Affordable Papers
• Prime quality of each and every paper
• Everything written per your instructions
• Native-speaking expert writers
• 100% authenticity guaranteed
• Timely delivery
• Attentive 24/7 customer care team
• Benefits for return customers
• Affordable pricing

Pardon Our Interruption

As you were browsing something about your browser made us think you were a bot. There are a few reasons this might happen:

• You've disabled JavaScript in your web browser.
• You're a power user moving through this website with super-human speed.
• You've disabled cookies in your web browser.
• A third-party browser plugin, such as Ghostery or NoScript, is preventing JavaScript from running. Additional information is available in this support article .

To regain access, please make sure that cookies and JavaScript are enabled before reloading the page.

Seeing Our Own Reflection in the Birth of the Self-Portrait

By Jason Farago Sept. 25, 2020

• Share full article

Who are you, and what are you doing here? You, there in the mirror, there in the lens of your phone: What do you see?

In the eyes of us poor moderns, it seems self-evident that a picture can capture who you are. That your posed image, your face and your clothing, express something essential about your personality. It’s the myth on which every selfie stands.

But the premise that an image can be an authentic representation — that you are a unique individual at all — is not self-evident. It is a historical development. It had to be invented.

More than five centuries ago, Albrecht Dürer painted images so detailed and exact that they seemed some kind of divine creation.

One subject fascinated him above all: himself.

In the year 1500, Dürer was already the leading artist of the German Renaissance, and famous across Europe as an entrepreneur of new media. He had made his name, and a small fortune, through the production and sale of woodcuts and engravings.

That year, he painted this commanding image, which hangs today in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. It’s one of the earliest standalone self-portraits in Western painting — and for my two pfennigs, the greatest self-portrait ever painted: a picture that radiates authority five centuries on.

But it isn’t exactly a welcoming picture. It’s supremely arrogant. So perfect it’s almost airless, so detailed it feels fetishistic. Its symmetry and frontal orientation give Dürer the appearance, and unapproachability, of a holy icon.

He completed this self-portrait at 28, though his face has a curiously ageless aspect. His skin is bright, gently illuminated from a soft light source from the composition’s left.

His cheeks are smooth. Not full like a prosperous burgher’s, not sunken like a malnourished student’s — but solid, unblemished. Like an image of an ideal man.

His small mouth is framed by a goatee, a trimmed beard and a bell curve of a mustache. Each whisker has been meticulously flecked, thanks to the relatively new medium of oil paint. They give this self-portrait a human presence, but also an alienating exactitude.

Remember, it’s 1500. Flat mirrors are still a few decades away, and Dürer would have been looking at his reflection in a convex glass. This lifelikeness has to be calculated. The path from decoration to art goes through math.

Look how the lines of his hair weave in and out. How brighter strands and darker ones braid together in each lock.

They’re so adept that Dürer’s rivals suspected he had a special brush.

The rich, fur-lined coat is an outfit suitable for a nobleman or a scholar — not someone who works with his hands. He’s showing off his painterly skill here, picking out every bristle. But he’s also affirming that he sees himself as more than a mere technician.

See how, with his long fingers, he strokes the fur collar? How the soft brown bristles peek over his middle finger? It’s a beautiful, even perverse detail, one that plunges this pseudo-icon back into the realm of the senses.

It’s his left hand — though in the mirror it looks like his right. It’s raised over his heart, and he has even highlighted the veins that pump blood from one organ to the other.

My hand and my heart. Divine benediction and sensual caress. Who I am, and what God has made me.

And his big gray-brown eyes, slightly asymmetrical, stare straight forward.

You can even see the mullion and transom of a window reflected in the iris of his left eye.

This is not the squint of an artist at work, but a firm, interpellating gaze on the beholder. His eyes bear down with such conviction that one troubled museumgoer, a century ago, mutilated them with a hatpin. (Repaired soon after!)

What those eyes express is a new kind of lucidity. They’re the eyes of an artist who not only knows how to depict himself, but who considers himself worthy of being depicted.

He did it first at age 13. Working in his father’s goldsmith shop, Dürer made this three-quarter-length self-portrait: keen, well fed, stringy hair bundled under his hood. He scratched it out in silverpoint: an extremely difficult medium, since it allows no corrections.

At 22, having abandoned the goldsmith trade for an artist’s apprenticeship, he painted himself in the same three-quarter profile. The flesh has turned buttery, the clothes a bit richer. He holds a flower reputed as an aphrodisiac: Dürer sent this to his bride-to-be.

At 26, the artist pictured himself in luxurious getup: expensive gloves, coordinated tunic and doublet, a braid over his broad upper pecs.

And out the window, an Italianate landscape: Dürer was just back from Venice, and had ambitions that Nuremberg couldn’t contain.

Self-portraiture, at this point, was still fresh terrain. Most artists still didn’t even sign their names. During the medieval era and the first decades of the Renaissance, the artist’s person was hardly a worthy subject of depiction.

In Italy up to now, the most an artist might do would be to slip himself into the background of a crowd scene. You’d paint the Madonna, you’d sketch out the adoring magi, and then —

like Botticelli, you’d position yourself off to one side.

But by the end of the 15th century, the self-portrait has become an act of self-fashioning: how I present myself to you . Dürer’s self-portraits were not the very first, but he made himself his subject with uncommon frequency.

Even his nudes were something much more carefully worked than an anatomy lesson.

Here begins a Renaissance conception of the self that has become so commonplace we don’t even notice it: the self as a subjective individual, the author of one’s own life story. And a modern conception, too, of what it means to be an artist.

Dürer, in his self-portraits, was calling into being an image of the artist as someone with more than just technical facility. The artist needed a more humanistic inspiration, partly from books, partly from God.

I am no mere skilled craftsman, like my father , the picture says. I have imagination, I have learning, I have a gift. All of which elevate me out of the workshop and into high society — or even higher.

Of Dürer’s self-portraits, this has the most unsettling orientation, with the artist’s body flush with the picture plane. And note the background: almost pitch black, not even a shadow.

But this sort of frontal orientation, before Dürer painted himself long-haired and bright-eyed in 1500, was highly rare for a portrait.

It was usually reserved for a more august subject.

It was Christ who usually appeared in this front-facing pose. Artists used it to echo the miraculous impression of his face on the veil of Saint Veronica. Others, like Gerard David around 1500, depict him frontally as the Salvator Mundi, or world’s savior.

Dürer himself began, though never finished, a painting of Christ as Salvator Mundi in 1505. Same full-frontal orientation, same raised right hand.

The motif was popular in Italy too. (Though who knows how much Leonardo painted of this one). Against a simple background, an image of authority and grace.

What did it mean for Dürer to depict himself as the Son of God? The pious have always striven to live in imitation of Christ, though rarely this literally.

The art historian Joseph Leo Koerner offers one convincing answer: Dürer’s merger of “artist’s portrait and cult image of God,” represented an innovation of personal authorship, one that emerged precisely at the turn of the 16th century.

Dürer didn’t literally think of himself as the Second Coming. He was as pious as any other German in the years before the Reformation. Where Christ raises his hand in blessing, Dürer points his inward, and invokes his God-given gift: the gift of art.

Look at the self-portrait’s two remaining details.

First, the inscription — not in German, but high-flown Latin — lettered painstakingly, in gold, at eye level. “Thus I, Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg, painted myself with indelible colors at the age of 28 years.”

Then, also at eye level, the date and the monogram. 1500: a new century, a turning point.

A.D.: Anno Domini , in the year of the Lord.

But also, more important: Albrecht Dürer.

Dürer plastered this monogram on everything he made. It was a newfangled thing.

He used it to signal his sole authorship of his art, after centuries when European artists worked collectively and anonymously. He used it not only on his paintings, but in a still young new medium: printmaking.

In the early 16th century Dürer made dozens of woodcuts and engravings, like this one of the melancholy Saint Jerome.

The prints made him Europe’s most famous artist outside Italy.

And each one bore the AD monogram as a mark of quality. The prints became a flourishing business, staffed by block cutters, apprentices and traveling salespeople. Dürer oversaw the production.

The AD functions, literally, as a trademark. His prints were being knocked off almost as soon as they left the shop, and Dürer went to court to stop forgers from using his monogram.

But on what grounds could he sue? How could a work of art be a “Dürer,” if Dürer’s hand never touched it?

Answer: through a new kind of authorship, born with the rise of printmaking, in which the work of art is the product of invention and skill at once.

This understanding declared an entirely new kind of individuality. One so enduring that we barely notice how bold it would have seemed in 1500.

Now it seems barely worth clarifying that artists depict themselves to tell a story about themselves — to express “what’s inside.” Like Frida Kahlo, facing front and wearing a necklace of thorns, her face the image of pride and suffering.

Or Andy Warhol, whose frontal self-portrait in his “fright wig” became his most enduring image of facing mortality.

Or, more recently, Sarah Lucas: her body straight forward, a skull between her legs. The self-portrait as a fraught pastiche of sex and death.

Their self-scrutinizing portraits now circulate online, more widely than any print could. And Dürer’s does, too, downloadable in ultra-hi-res reproductions whose precision exceeds his engravings a thousand times over.

But Dürer never sold the 1500 self-portrait. A few of Nuremberg’s educated humanists saw it, but this vision of the artist as a near Messiah stayed largely out of the public eye until just before his death, in 1528.

Nor did Dürer translate it into a print for sale. He never made a single self-portrait print, in fact.

It was painted for posterity, not public communication. His new vision of artistic individuality didn’t require public approval. For he was already establishing that every “Dürer,” even a print, carries something essential of its maker.

Dürer’s monogram and Dürer’s eyes. New learning and new media. The artist’s perception of himself and the artist’s brand offered to the world.

This self-portrait was its own legitimation, with no need for likes. It was the work of an individual already facing the future head on.

Produced by Alicia DeSantis, Gabriel Gianordoli, Laura O’Neill, Josephine Sedgwick.

Advertisement

Self-Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Anguissola was inventive and playful as she explored the narrative possibilities of portraiture, stretching the boundaries of the genre she was confined to because the artist was not allowed to study the nude figures required to represent historical and religious paintings because she was a woman. She was not just the most frequent self-portrait painter, but she was also unique in that her self-portraits were of herself as an artwork, not a painter. As a result, the work’s ultimate meaning has become a mystery, even though it continues to reveal new tales and inspire fresh perspectives on art. Thus, the paper aims to analyze the self-portrait of Anguissola and reflect on the painting created in 1556.

Sofonisba portrays herself painting in the self-portrait from 1556, adding mixed colors to a painting that features a passionate kiss between the Virgin and the Christ Child. She appears to be in the middle of a stroke as she casts her gaze forth. She has a calm, collected demeanor. Her right hand is supported while she applies the paintbrush to the canvas by a maulstick, a standard tool used to assist the artist’s hand. The artist is dressed simply in black, perhaps to suggest humility and virtue; her understated appearance reflects the woman of honor. The fact that Sofonisba included a picture of the Virgin Mary and the Christ child in her 1556 self-portrait speaks volumes about her virginity. Sofonisba probably included this private moment between mother and son here just to portray herself as a righteous woman—one who recognizes the greatest noblewoman, the Virgin Mary—even though depictions of Mary trying to feed, hugging, or embracing Christ as a baby were common during this time.

The strongest hues in Self-portrait at the Easel are those in Anguissola’s palette and her painting. This demonstrates Anguissola’s ability to wonderfully represent situations other than herself and the family. The Madonna’s pale, neutral complexion tone with touches of crimson around the cheekbones and hair color is similar to Anguissola’s. Even Madonna’s hairdo, with the delicate braid wrapped around her head almost like a halo, is comparable to Anguissola’s. Mary’s hand is highlighted in the painting, much way Anguisslike Anguissola’s hand states the two women’s intimate relationship. Anguissola sees her brilliance and connects with Mary’s authoritative presence. However, Christ appears simple; he is white and pure, and nothing draws unwarranted attention to him. This may be seen to emphasize Anguissola’s viewpoint on the value of women. Jesus and this masterpiece would not have existed without Mary and Anguissola, respectively.

The paradoxical qualities required of a young peasant woman and an artist are depicted in Sofonisba Anguissola’s self-portraits. Sofonisba Anguissola’s Self-portrait at the Easel shows the artist clad entirely in black against a misty backdrop (Robinson). I find it fascinating that she produced the most self-portraits compared to any other artist between Dürer and Rembrandt, and her peers hailed her as the greatest woman painter of her day (Self-portrait). Anguissola’s talent, clean reputation, and extraordinary education were made possible by her father, a nobleman who was poor but forward-thinking (Macdonald). It would enable her to work as an artist at the palace of King Philip II of Spain (Macdonald). However, as Anguissola was a woman and males were the court painters, she was granted a title more fitting for her sexual identity: lady-in-waiting to Philip’s wife, Elizabeth of Valois (Macdonald). These gender-based modifications enabled the Cremonese artist to excel in the competitive realm of royal art.

Nevertheless, these same modifications could also be to blame for the incorrect crediting of Anguissola’s efforts. For instance, even though it closely resembled her other well-known works, Juan Pantoja de la Cruz was incorrectly given credit for Anguissola’s 1565 Portrait of Philip II (Macdonald). The work was not returned to Anguissola until after scientific analyses in the 1990s (Macdonald). The quantity of Anguissola’s recognized works is growing, allowing an understanding of the significance of her works during that time.

In this self-portrait from 1556, Sofonisba depicts herself painting while incorporating varied hues into a scene that shows the Virgin and the Christ Child sharing a passionate kiss. Sofonisba most likely included this private exchange between a mother and son in order to present herself as a moral person. Anguissola’s hair color and the Madonna’s delicate, neutral skin tone with hints of scarlet around the cheekbones are comparable. In the period between Dürer and Rembrandt, Sofonisba Anguissola painted the most self-portraits, and her contemporaries regarded her as the best female painter of the time. The Cremonese artist’s father was a nobleman who was destitute but forward-thinking, and his talent made it feasible for her to pursue a career as an artist at Philip II of Spain’s palace. She was given the title of lady-in-waiting to Philip’s wife, Elizabeth of Valois, which was more appropriate for her sexual orientation. She was able to succeed in the challenging field of royal art because of these changes based on gender. However, the inaccurate attribution of her efforts may also be due to these same alterations.

Works Cited

Macdonald, Deanna. “ Female Artists in the Renaissance .” Smart History. Web.

Robinson, Rosa Lena Reed. “Wonder Women: Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana and Artemisia Gentileschi. A Critical Analysis of Renaissance and Baroque Self-Portrait Painting by Female Artists.” Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Art History at Studio Art Centers International Florence , 2017, pp. 25-91.

“Self-portrait.” MFA Boston. Web.

• Analysis of the Artwork “Emperor Jahangir Embraces Shah Abbas”
• The "Self-Portrait" Painting by Tamara de Lempicka
• The Huaxian Earthquake: China's Deadliest Disaster
• Four Apostles’ by Albrecht Dürer: Protestant Faith
• Rembrandt's Self-Portrait, Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Joseph Roulin and Andy Warhol's Gold Marilyn Monroe. Comparison
• Raphael's vs. Parmigianino's Madonna Paintings
• "Pinturas de Casta" Article by Masheli del Val
• Cindy Sherman's Adaptation of Fornarina
• Asher B. Durand’s Painting Thanatopsis
• The "La Noche" Painting by Mary Weatherford
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, December 8). Self-Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola. https://ivypanda.com/essays/self-portrait-by-sofonisba-anguissola/

"Self-Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola." IvyPanda , 8 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/self-portrait-by-sofonisba-anguissola/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Self-Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola'. 8 December.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Self-Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola." December 8, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/self-portrait-by-sofonisba-anguissola/.

1. IvyPanda . "Self-Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola." December 8, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/self-portrait-by-sofonisba-anguissola/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Self-Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola." December 8, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/self-portrait-by-sofonisba-anguissola/.

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

• Basic site functions
• Ensuring secure, safe transactions
• Secure account login
• Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
• Remembering privacy and security settings
• Analyzing site traffic and usage
• Personalized search, content, and recommendations
• Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

• Remembering general and regional preferences
• Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy .

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy .

Toll-Free US & Canada 24/7:

1-770-659-7014

As a precautionary health measure for our support specialists in light of COVID-19, our phone support option will be temporarily unavailable. However, orders are processed online as usual and communication via live chat, messenger, and email is conducted 24/7. There are no delays with processing new and current orders.

Portrait Essay Example

Look through this Portrait Essay Example created by BookWormLab!

Compare ready samples with your papers and improve them

Want us to make a unique Creative Writing Examples for you?

How can I go about writing a portrait essay? In order to write a portrait essay, we must understand the meaning of a portrait. A portrait is a painting, a photograph, sculpture or any other artistic rendition of a person, in which the face and its expression is the main area of interest. A portrait custom essay could be easily written about how to paint or photograph a portrait. Also a portrait essay could be written about how to make a sculpture of a person.

Self Portrait Essay Writing

Since everyone may know the basic meaning of a portrait, a general portrait essay can be written very easily. But if we have to go deeper into what a portrait means to the artist, and what the artist is trying to bring out, then a portrait essay can be written on every portrait! For example, an entire essay could be written just about the Mona Lisa painting. Likewise, if you take sculptures by Michelangelo, you can write a portrait essay about each of his sculptures. Each portrait makes for an excellent portrait essay if carefully considered. Every portrait that exists, no matter how good or bad it may be to behold, it till carries a lot of meaning with it.

Portrait Character Essay Papers

Sometimes, an artist creates a self-image of himself. These images are called self portraits. When an artist creates a self portrait, usually there is a lot of meaning attached to it. A portrait essay explaining the nature of the portrait and the circumstances in which he created the portrait, would make an excellent portrait essay.

One could even write about the origin of self portraits, and what they meant to each civilisation in the portrait essays. In some cases, some people write articles like a portrait of the artist as a young man essays, which may talk about the life of the artist, with the main topic being his self portrait. Some good titles of essays of the modern era worth mentioning, include “portrait of the essay as a warm body” and “portrait of a teacher essay”. Portrait Essay Sample:

If you still think that writing a portrait essay is difficult, then you could always seek help. There are people like Professional Content Writers, who are specialised in writing custom essays including custom portrait essay. You could either buy portrait essay that is already written or ask them to write a portrait essay for you.

Even if you need a portrait essay for your websites or blogs, you can be assured that a portrait essay written by one of our writers, will get you a lot of internet traffic, as these essays will be keyword rich and at the same time, will be rich in content!

Plagiarism-free

• Art Appreciation Paper
• Pornography Essay

Related Essay Samples

Thinking is a far better task then writing. People with polished English and other languages also find it difficult at times. If your problem is how to write essay on snow white, then you have come to the correct place. We offer...

Bureau of Justice Statistics (2009), “Prisoners at year end”, US Department of Justice In this report put together by the Bureau of Justice as a part of their “Prisoner Series” gives detailed data based on their year-end statistics of, state and federal...

An essay on internet would be one of the popular and easy essays to write. A browse through the World Wide Web can easily get you ample information for your essay on internet. Once connected to the World Wide Web, you can...

• Craft Essays
• Teaching Resources

Here’s Looking at Me: Lessons in Memoir from Self-Portraiture

Conveying ourselves as characters on the page is tricky business, like expecting a butterfly to pin its own wings. As James Hall explains in The Self-Portrait: A Cultural History , when Montaigne put pen to paper, he referenced those who had put brush to canvas, citing King René of Anjou: “I saw…King Francis II being presented with a self-portrait by King René as a souvenir of him. Why is it not equally permissible to portray yourself with your pen as he did with his brush?”

But a slimly pen-stroked “I” isn’t a portrait: We need to convey detail, texture, shadow. And in this, visual artists have much to teach us.

Look Me in the Eye When American street photographer Vivian Maier’s work was discovered after her death, her self-portraits proved especially compelling. “…[A] self-portrait is a unique confession by an artist. It tells us both how they view themselves, as well as how they perceive the world around them,” wrote John Maloof in the foreword to Vivian Maier Self-Portraits . Maier’s portraits ranged from the head-on mirror shot to the outlined shadow to a combination of the two . In some shots, her shadow seemed almost a mistake or coincidence , as did her reflection , though the sly smile in one hints that perhaps the reflections and shadows are precisely the point of these images.

What does Maier show us? The details of her face, her haircut, her clothing and her photographic gear all come into focus in her most direct shots. But to me, more intriguing are those that “show” her more obliquely: the contents of the handbag next to her shadow , the blurred larger image with the distant in-focus one reflected near her heart , the angles from which she chooses to observe others and those she allows into the frame with her . How she looks is interesting; what she looks at is compelling.

Head-on: Photograph yourself in a mirror. Write a description of yourself as if you were describing someone unknown to you.

What catches your eye? Throughout a day or a weekend, snap images of where your gaze settles: the irritating scuff on the white-painted stair riser heading up to your bedroom; the dog’s wagging tale as its dream delights it; the way the water pools on the barbecue lid in the rain. Print out the images. What insights might a stranger discovering your collection draw from these photos?

I Didn’t Mean to Show You That—Did I?

Eggs in an Egg Crate was the first work Canadian painter Mary Pratt completed after miscarrying twins. Pratt later wrote that the image was inspired as she made a birthday cake, placing the spent shells back in the carton as she used them. But it wasn’t until the painting was finished and she shared it with a friend that she fully realized what she’d captured: “[S]he pointed out to me that the eggs were empty.”

Sometimes an artist is more direct in revealing her subconscious. Frida Kahlo’s painting What I Saw in the Water (also sometimes referred to as What the Water Gave Me ) is, for Kahlo, uncharacteristically surreal: an image of memories from her life floating in the water, her feet poking above them at the tub’s top end.

What draws you? What do you collect? Treasure? Find difficult to let go of? Whether it’s your collection of Pez dispensers or the penny you keep in your pocket for good luck, choose an object that you are drawn to, and describe it deeply, closely. As you observe it, what do you see, feel, smell, taste, hear? Put the writing aside for a week. When you return to the description, what does what you’ve captured on the page reveal about you?

What haunts you? What memories repeat themselves for you? What dreams—or nightmares—return again and again? What song lyrics linger? What smells transport you? Find a place in your daily environment that allows you to stare into the distance or some not-quite-reflective surface—a deck chair overlooking the water, the subway window, or, like Kahlo, the bathtub. Describe the setting first. Then, call up your ghosts and describe them as they inhabit the air around you or the surface before you.

Is That You, Leonardo?

It’s said to be a Renaissance maxim: “Every painter paints himself.” There are those who would have us believe Mona Lisa’s smile hides Leonardo’s self-portrait , and many artists have inserted themselves into a painted scene, as J ulia Fiore writes on Artsy : from Raphael peeking from behind an arch in his Vatican fresco, to Caravaggio as the decapitated Goliath, to Dutch artist Clara Peters cleverly hidden in the reflection of a goblet’s pewter lid. Caravaggio was a repeat offender: In The Taking of Christ , he appears at the frame’s edge, holding up a lantern, in what The Self-Portrait author James Hall categorizes as a “bystander self-portrait”—distinct from the “group self-portrait” where the artist appears as themself with “family, associates or even the Virgin Mary.” 

Who’s in your group? If you were to paint a group self-portrait of you at 17, who else would be in the frame? Describe them—both the real people and the influential figures who loomed large (your Virgin Marys). Now step back and describe yourself as each of them sees you. Try it at 27. 57. 77.

Wish I’d been there: What moment in history would you most like to have witnessed? Research the scene—and then place yourself in it, but at its fringes. Are you Caravaggio holding the lantern? The short-order cook at the Greensboro Sit-In? The kid behind the kid who caught a World Series home run baseball? Be as true to you as you can be: What do you see of yourself in this imagined scene that you might miss revealing in a more factual moment?

One Final Art Lesson

In Likeness: Fathers, Sons, A Portrait , author David Macfarlane spends months contemplating a portrait of himself painted by John Hartman. “I’m not sure how much the painting looks like me,” writes Macfarlane. “I can tell you that it feels like one of those candid shots that surprise you, not always pleasantly. It’s not at all how you picture yourself. But you sense somehow that a certain truth has been captured. …It looks like it has the same memories I do.”

I’ve used the exercises here to reveal my self to myself, then gone back to an essay I’m working on to weave in an insight here or a glimpse of my character there—and in doing so, tried to ensure there isn’t a blank spot on the canvas where I should be.

And that, perhaps, is what as memoirists, as essayists, we might strive for: not a perfect portrait of a flawless subject, but an image that captures a moment of truth, of who we were and what we’ve lived through. ___

Kim Pittaway is the executive director of the MFA in Creative Nonfiction program at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is the co-author, with Toufah Jallow, of Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement , due out from Steerforth Press in October 2021. She is at work on a memoir with the working title Grudge: My Ten-Year Fight with Forgiveness . Her e-newsletter on writing craft, I Have Thoughts , is available at kim.substack.com .

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Click here to cancel reply.

© 2024 Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction. All Rights Reserved!

Designed by WPSHOWER

Home / Essay Samples / Art / Two Fridas / Self Portraits And The Evolution Of Selfies

Self Portraits And The Evolution Of Selfies

• Category: Art
• Topic: Selfie , Two Fridas

Pages: 1 (467 words)

• Downloads: -->

--> ⚠️ Remember: This essay was written and uploaded by an--> click here.

Found a great essay sample but want a unique one?

are ready to help you with your essay

You won’t be charged yet!

Creativity Essays

Selfie Essays

Painting Essays

Vincent Van Gogh Essays

Pop Art Essays

Related Essays

We are glad that you like it, but you cannot copy from our website. Just insert your email and this sample will be sent to you.

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service  and  Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Your essay sample has been sent.

In fact, there is a way to get an original essay! Turn to our writers and order a plagiarism-free paper.

samplius.com uses cookies to offer you the best service possible.By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .--> -->