Self-Portrait

George Caleb Bingham painted this self-portrait, the last of four known, just two years before he died. The painting's composition was inspired by the English artist Sir Edward Landseer, who rendered himself similarly in a canvas that Bingham evidently knew from an engraving. The artist's direct gaze outward places the viewer in the role of a mirror. Bingham wears the toupee he customarily wore due to hair loss as a young man from a bout of smallpox.

Bingham's choice to picture himself sketching reflects the important role drawing played in his art. He drew on paper as well as sketched directly on the canvas for both portraits and genre paintings.