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Self-Portrait (recto and verso)

c. 1883
Antonio Mancini (Italian, 1852–1930)
Here the artist presents himself in an expressionless, frontal pose that mimics the attitude of a Byzantine icon. On his head is a yellow straw hat whose rounded outline suggests a halo, creating a self-image that seems to alternate between country bumpkin and saint. Mancini repeated this halo device in at least one other self-portrait and playfully fitted his Circus Boy of 1872 with a brass ring "halo" as well.

Object Details

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