I think I see that the men all prefer to have stern looks in their self portraits and the ladies have pleasant countenances...........must be a "man" thing.
I don't think I would like to have them on my walls, I'd be startled every time I walked in:)

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Hi Roger,

Wow, this looks good to me. Love the detail and expression.

Robert Lenkiewicz

Yes Myrna,

A great artist.

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I think I see that the men all prefer to have stern looks in their self portraits and the ladies have pleasant countenances...........must be a "man" thing.
I don't think I would like to have them on my walls, I'd be startled every time I walked in:)

I understand.

Some would have been produced to give an idea as to what a customer might expect. If the customer wished to portray a serious and impressive image then this would affect the style, however, the portraits by the ladies are more often lighter in feel.

Roger

I don't think that Joyce would want this one on her wall, however, it is very special.

Click on the image for enlargement. It is wonderful.

Gustave Courbet — The Desperate Man (self-portrait) — 1845

The self-proclaimed "proudest and most arrogant man in France," Gustave Courbet created a sensation at the Paris Salon of 1850–51 when he exhibited a group of paintings set in his native Ornans, a village in the Franche-Comté in eastern France. These works, including The Stonebreakers (1849–50; now lost) and A Burial at Ornans (1849–50; Musèe d'Orsay, Paris) challenged convention by rendering scenes from daily life on the large scale previously reserved for history painting and in an emphatically realistic style. Confronted with the unvarnished realism of Courbet's imagery, critics derided the ugliness of his figures and dismissed them as "peasants in their Sunday best."

Courbet's self portrait, The Wounded Man, painted in 1855, shows a Christ-like figure who has presumably sacrificed his life for a cause. Courbet sacrificed his comfortable bourgeoisie lifestyle to live like a bohemian in Paris.

Actually Roger-this guy (Gustave) looks like Johnny Depp-so he might get a pass:)