Målaren som konstnär och allegori. Självbild, dräkt och frusen tid vid 1500-talets början

Abstract

Title: The Painter as an Artist and Allegory. Portrait, fashion and frozen time in the early 16th century

Throughout the Middle Ages, self-portraits were created by the artisans who constructed and decorated churches and secular buildings. In the late 15th century, however, severe changes can be noticed in the way they decided to present themselves. The changes indicate the changing role of the artisans as renaissance artists with increasing self confidence in every aspect of life. Garments had an important function in creating this image. These changes can be noticed in a number of self-portraits by northern European painters around 1500. For Albrecht Dürer, for example, clothing played an important role in creating the image of an artist rather than a painter, then simply regarded as artisans. Similar examples can be seen all over northern Europe at this time. One of them depicts Andreas Martini, a Swedish painter working in the 1520s, who portrayed himself in Valö, painting St Luke assisted by his journeyman. The self-portraits shown here are not simply portraits. They have wider significance with aspects of individualism, frozen time and allegory. These aspects are almost imperceptible but stand out in closer readings. The self-portraits discussed here can, in my opinion, be read as allegories of painting and sculpture.