Martin Quadal, (Moravian, 1736–1808), Self-Portrait, 1788, oil on canvas, Cincinnati Art Museum, Bequest of Walter I. Farmer, 1997.118.

Audio Description

This self-portrait was made in 1788 by the Czech artist Martin Quadal, who lived from 1736 to 1808. It is an oil painting on canvas and was bequeathed to the Cincinnati Art Museum by Walter I. Farmer. Its accession number is 1997.118.

In this painting, forty inches in height, an artist is seated in a chair facing right, with a paint brush in his right hand and a palette in his left hand, which rests on a table. He turns his head to look out at the viewer. A brown dog lies across his lap and looks up solicitously at the man’s face, one paw hanging over his right wrist. The artist wears a voluminous green pinstriped robe over a white shirt and loosely knotted brown scarf wrapped around his neck. A red drapery hangs over the chair back, at left. A large blank canvas stands on an easel in the dark background.

Label Copy

This self-portrait was made in 1788 by the Czech artist Martin Quadal, who lived from 1736 to 1808. It is an oil painting on canvas and was bequeathed to the Cincinnati Art Museum by Walter I. Farmer. Its accession number is 1997.118.

The eighteenth-century artist Martin Quadal traveled widely in Europe, working for patrons across the continent. Quadal was especially known for his paintings and prints of animal subjects, but also painted portraits throughout his career. This self-portrait combines both of his strengths. The artist sits before an unfinished canvas, holding his brush and palette, with a dog on his lap. Quadal painted himself this way more than once: the Cincinnati painting is very close to the version the painter made for a famous collection of self-portraits at the Uffizi in Florence, Italy.

Walter Farmer acquired this painting in 1976 in Bologna and displayed it prominently in his Cincinnati home on Observatory Place for the following twenty years.

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