Self-portrait thumbnail 1
Self-portrait thumbnail 2
+2
images
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Portrait Miniatures, Room 90a, The International Music and Art Foundation Gallery

Self-portrait

Portrait Miniature
1673 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Portrait of a man, head and shoulders, looking to front and wearing a cloak. Features in long wiry strokes of brown and sanguine, shaded with blue-green, on a pale yellowish carnation ground; hair in brown wash, hatched and heightened with gouache; costume and linen washed and hatched in opaque grey and white with a little brown; sky in washes of opaque blue, grey and white; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.

Frame: Nineteenth-century silver-gilt locket, convex back with straight sides, round the centre of which is attached a round wire twisted at the top to form a circular loop. The (replacement) convex glass is retained by a slip- in oval ring of T-section, the flange having notches. There is an inner slip, of narrow flat section.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleSelf-portrait (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book
Brief description
Portrait miniature, self-portrait by Thomas Flatman, watercolour on vellum, 1673.
Physical description
Portrait of a man, head and shoulders, looking to front and wearing a cloak. Features in long wiry strokes of brown and sanguine, shaded with blue-green, on a pale yellowish carnation ground; hair in brown wash, hatched and heightened with gouache; costume and linen washed and hatched in opaque grey and white with a little brown; sky in washes of opaque blue, grey and white; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.

Frame: Nineteenth-century silver-gilt locket, convex back with straight sides, round the centre of which is attached a round wire twisted at the top to form a circular loop. The (replacement) convex glass is retained by a slip- in oval ring of T-section, the flange having notches. There is an inner slip, of narrow flat section.
Dimensions
  • Height: 68mm
  • Width: 55mm
Dimensions taken from John Murdoch Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: The Stationery Office, 1997.
Content description
Portrait of a man, facing front and wearing a cloak.
Styles
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'TF / 1673' (Signed in gold, centre left)
  • 'Portrait/of/Thomas Flatman/ (the poet) /by himself./1673' (Inscribed in graphite on the back )
Credit line
Given by the Basil Long Memorial Fund
Object history
Provenance: Possibly George Howard, 4th Earl of Carlisle, at Castle Howard; purchased by Colnaghi's and sold to the Duke of Buccleuch in 1898; on loan at the V&A (Additional Loan no. 20), 1918-25; purchased by Iolo Williams on behalf of the Basil Long Memorial Fund, and presented to the Museum, August 1938.
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic references
  • Murdoch, John. Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: The Stationery Office, 1997.
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1938, London: Board of Education, 1939.
Collection
Accession number
P.79-1938

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJuly 3, 2003
Record URL
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest