Self-portrait, 1810

About the Work

It almost seems as if we can already see traces of the severe illness which would lead to Franz Pforr's death two years later at the age of only twenty-four. As one of the intellectual leaders of the Brotherhood of St Luke, the artist community which moved from Vienna to Rome in 1810, Pforr supported the idea of an art which was to be revived through spirituality and piety. In this bust portrait, dominated by his penetrating gaze, Pforr demonstrates his adherence to the tradition of his admired role model Fürer. The austerity and simplicity of the portrait match the principle of the simple life to which the artists subscribed in their quarters in Rome, the Monastery of Sant'Isidoro.