Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror; Francesco Mazzola, called Parmigianino

Oil on curved wooden panel, roughly 9 inches (24 cm) in diameter (without frame). Link is to zoomable version on the Google Art Project; there is a downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons; the original is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, which also has both zoomable and downloadable versions.

There are plenty of precedents for the use of curved mirrors in art, as well as their use in self-portraiture, but this strikingly intimate and true to life self-portrait by the 16th century painter Parmigianino is notable for its simultaneous strength and delicacy, and for the fact that Parmigianino painted it on a convex wooden block, further adding to the illusion that the painting itself was a convex mirror.

The effect of the convex surface is difficult to see in straight-on photographs, but I found a couple of examples from the side of the painting hanging in place on Flickr, here and here. You can also see it in this video about the painting from the Khan Academy.

This was a painting that the young, 21-year-old Parmigianino intended to be an example of his skill as a painter, to be used to showcase his abilities to potential clients.

The artist presented it, along with two other small works, to Pope Clement VI in an effort to gain commissions from the Vatican. Though it didn’t accomplish that goal, it did help cement Parmigianino’s reputation in general as an exceptional painter.

The painting was mentioned in Giorgio Vasari’s seminal book of artist biographies, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. The painting was also the inspiration for a noted poem and collection by contemporary poet John Ashbery.

Many of Parmigianino’s paintings have a kind of trademark styleization, a graceful elongation of figures, but this self-portrait is directly observed with an almost hypnotic sense of accuracy, including the optical distortion of the artist’s hand due to its proximity to the mirror.

I find it interesting to compare this to another iconic portrait in a curved reflecting surface, M.C. Escher’s Hand with Reflecting Sphere.

Still Life with Ewer, Vessels and Pomegranate, Willem Kalf

Link is to the original in the Getty Museum, which has both zoomable and downloadable versions. There is also a zoomable version on Google Art Project, and a downloadable version of that file on Wikimedia Commons.

I have not had the pleasure of seeing the original in person, but my instincts tell me that neither of the high-resolution online images are likely to be true in color and value.

The Getty version seems overly dark, which is often the case in images museums post of works in their collections, perhaps in a misguided attempt to discourage image reuse. The Google Art Project image, on the other hand, seems artificially much too bright and saturated.

I’ve taken the liberty of making adjustments to a copy of the Getty’s image to bring it to a best-guess state, based on the Willem Kalf paintings I have seen in person. I may or may not be close to the original of this work.

There is something in Kalf’s softly painterly rendering of light playing across the texture of the ewer, the delicate transparency of the wineglass and the subtle reflections in the silver tankard that put me in mind of the still life elements in Vermeer’s exquisite interiors.