Self Portrait of the Artist, with a Cittern

Frans van Mieris dated this tiny canvas 1674, and he painted it three days before his 39th birthday. It was a hard time to be selling pictures in Holland. Two years earlier, in 1672, French armies had invaded the Dutch Republic, and the market for paintings had fallen sharply. Here he shows himself in costume from the Italian commedia dell'arte, probably as Ottavio, one of the young lovers of those comedies, strumming a cittern, a small flat-backed instrument strung with wire. A feathered hat is balanced on the balustrade, and beside it stands a wine glass, half full. His face has begun to show its age, and he looks out at us as if inviting us to join him. The whole picture is 17.5 centimetres tall, and the velvet of his cloak, the lace and the brocade ribbons on his puffed sleeves each get their own shine.