Selbstporträt

Executed in oil, the painting employs the rich, layered brushwork typical of Baroque portraiture, while the muted background serves to isolate the figure and accentuate facial features. Bellucci’s handling of light creates subtle chiaroscuro, lending depth to the folds of the shirt and the texture of the hair, consistent with his broader Italianate approach.

After its completion, the portrait entered the private collections of Bellucci’s patrons before being acquired by the Ashmolean Museum, where it remains on display. The work reflects the artist’s itinerant career, documenting a period when he was establishing his reputation beyond the Italian peninsula.

Bellucci was contemporaneous with artists such as Sebastiano Ricci and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, sharing a training environment that emphasized grand‑manner frescoes for aristocratic interiors. Though best known for large decorative schemes, this intimate self‑portrait reveals his capacity for personal, smaller‑scale works within the same Baroque visual language.