Lot 28 Dα

Lovis Corinth was a master of the self-portrait and thus followed in the path of Rembrandt as an admired role model. “The best and most willing model, however, is ‘oneself’. The self-portrait has been pursued by all painters: Rembrandt’s self portraits, in particular, are among the most famous works in the world. The obsession with getting to know oneself […] – but, most of all, the desire to be able to decide upon an arrangement and a concept entirely according to one’s own wishes, without any other influence, is what makes the self-portrait the preferred means of study for all painters”, he explains in his handbook “Das Erlernen der Malerei” (second edition, Verlag Paul Cassirer, Berlin n. d., p. 136).
Corinth explored his self in countless paintings and drawings, and he used various costumes to try out a broad range of roles. From 1900, he frequently appears in a suit of armour, within which the artist depicts himself as aggressively self-confident.
As a pure head study, his “Selbstporträt als Nürnberger Landsknecht” is composed in an unusual horizontal format. In terms of the motif, the elaborate hat decorated with feathers plays a dominant role, even if it is only summarily indicated. Here the painter has portrayed himself with a dubious gaze, which also contains an air of mistrust and resistance. His brow furrowed, the lines of his chin and cheeks marked by unusually distinct and sharp edges, and his eyebrows and moustache twisted out to the sides, he merges into his chosen role of a grim foot soldier.