Self-Portrait, Yawning – Joseph Ducreux

Joseph Ducreux, 1783. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Arms flung wide, eyes screwed shut and mouth stretched open, Joseph Ducreux paints himself mid-yawn. Fascinated by physiognomy, the belief that the face reveals the inner character, he used his own features as the experiment, breaking every polite rule of eighteenth-century portraiture. Critics at the Paris Salon mocked it; today it feels astonishingly modern, the original expressive selfie.

The print: Museum-quality giclée, printed on demand on heavyweight fine art paper with archival pigment inks for rich colour, deep blacks and lasting fidelity. Also available beautifully framed, or as a gallery-wrapped canvas ready to hang.

• Giclée Print: fine art matte paper, archival inks
• Framed Print: giclée in a classic wooden frame, ready to hang
• Canvas: stretched, gallery-wrapped canvas
• Sizes: 30×40cm and 50×70cm

Reproduced from a high-resolution public-domain museum scan. Made to order for you.