(Vienna 1731–1808 Rome)
Self-portrait,
oil on canvas, 75 x 62 cm, framed
Inscribed on the reverse of the canvas: Anton Graff.

Provenance:
sale, Sotheby’s, Olympia, 28 October 2004, lot 168 (as Studio of Anton von Maron);
with Alberto di Castro, Rome;
Private European collection

Literature:
A. Cesareo, Anton von Maron. The first portrait painter at present in Rome, in: Antologia di Belle Arti, 2007, p. 116, footnote 26, illustrated p. 115, fig. 17 (as Anton von Maron);
I. Schmittmann, Anton von Maron (1731–1808): Leben und Werk, Munich 2013, p. 320, cat. no. 99, illustrated fig. 104 (as Anton von Maron)

The present painting is an autograph version of the Self-portrait by Anton von Maron in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin (inv. no. 2202) of 1794, which according to Schmittmann (see literature) is his last version of the subject. The painter represents himself from the side, with his head turned, as if he had been called; in his right hand he holds various brushes. His position, with his back almost turned to the viewer seem to allude to the artist’s imminent departure from the scene possibly alluding to his situation at the time. Indeed, the events of the French Revolution had slowed the flow of Grand Tourists to Italy and von Maron was forced to leave Rome for Genoa in search of commissions.

It is possible to visually reconstruct Anton von Maron’s career through his self-portraits which serve as references to his development as an artist. These works date from his arrival in Rome to his declining years. The Self-portrait executed for the Galleria dei Ritratti of the Accademia di San Luca, Rome, is the first and was made at the time of his admission to the institution in 1766; the Self-portrait in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and that in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, both date from 1787 and they both represent the painter intent at work on a series of canvases for the Casino Borghese.

Anton von Maron was born in Vienna, and settled in Rome from 1755, at the beginning working in the studio of Anton Raphael Mengs (1728–1779). Von Maron’s paintings combined Neo-Classical formal austerity with a sophisticated sense of colour. When Mengs left for Madrid in 1761, von Maron’s career flourished and he became one of the preferred portraitists of wealthy visiting aristocrats on the Grand Tour. Elected to the Accademia di San Luca in 1766, he served as its director in 1784. Duke Leopoldo III, Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau and Sir William Hamilton were among his most important patrons.

According to Schmittmann (see literature) the inscription ‘Anton Graff’ on the back of the canvas, which has previously been thought to refer to the sitter or the painter, cannot be considered authentic in reference to the possible authorship of the work, since all the stylistic details as well as the sitter’s features are identical to the Berlin version of this self-portrait, it may therefore be a later addition.