VOUET, Simon
(b. 1590, Paris, d. 1649, Paris)

Self-Portrait

c. 1615
Oil on canvas, 64 x 48 cm
Musée Réattu, Arles

This early self-portrait shows Vouet's intuitive talent for capturing transitory effects. This illustration of a moment in which time is suspended and one can almost sense the breath on the sitter's lip was an evolution of the naturalism found in the early work of Annibale Carracci and Caravaggio.