This is a monotype after a portrait by Velazquez. A monotype is a unique impression, made by the artist drawing directly onto the surface of the plate (in this case a sheet of plexiglass) and then passing it through the press. Since no permanent marks are made on the plate only one true impression can be made.

The Portrait of Don Luis de Góngora, 1622, by Diego Velazquez, is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Schwartz studied at Boston University, where the students spent a lot of their time studying the work of the Old Masters in local collections. Schwartz has a particular interest in portraiture, and has made many self-portraits, often guided by the compositional structure of Old Master portraits such as this. In making this monotype she was working in monochrome, but copying directly from the Velazquez original, so the image is reversed in the printing. The print has the fluency and transparent subtlety of a watercolour, and she has made effective use of the white of the paper for the subject’s shirt collar. With monotype it is usual to pass the plate through the press only once, but working with Tony Kirk at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, Schwartz has developed a way of reworking her monotypes by running them through the press several times to make corrections and to strengthen the darker areas.