Self-portrait

The portraitist and history painter John Opie was introduced to London in 1781 as 'the Cornish Wonder'. Largely self-trained, his style was marked from the outset by strong realism, and striking contrasts of light and dark, a style he further developed after a visit to the Netherlands in 1786. The intense drama of his spot-lit figures, shown against a dark background, impressed even Joshua Reynolds, who is reported to have described Opie's work as 'like Caravaggio and Velasquez in one.' Probably painted in c.1794, the sitter appears a few years older than in a self-portrait dated 1785 in the National Portrait Gallery and another in Tate Britain, dated c.1790. This work compares quite closely with a self-portrait of 1794, which is recorded in an enamel copy by Henry Bone sold at Bonham's, 19 March 1996, lot 87. The influence of Rembrandt's self-portraits can clearly be seen here in the dramatic chiaroscuro and generous use of impasto.