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Behold the man
Penitent Magdalene
Venus and Mars
Saints Sebastian, John the Baptist and Francis
Susanna and the Elders
Entertainment in a garden of Albaro
Self-portrait of the painter in the act of painting the portrait of his father
Cain and Abel
Madonna of the candle
Madonna of the veil
Landscape with tree-lined avenue
Sorrowful Christ in the act of blessing
Still life of fruit, vegetables and flowers
Sant’Orsola
Christ and the adulteress
Adoration of the shepherds
Behold the man
Penitent Magdalene
Venus and Mars
Saints Sebastian, John the Baptist and Francis
Susanna and the Elders
Entertainment in a garden of Albaro
Self-portrait of the painter in the act of painting the portrait of his father
Cain and Abel
Madonna of the candle
Madonna of the veil
Landscape with tree-lined avenue
Sorrowful Christ in the act of blessing
Still life of fruit, vegetables and flowers
Sant’Orsola
Christ and the adulteress
Adoration of the shepherds

Self-portrait of the painter in the act of painting the portrait of his father

Luca Cambiaso

Displayed in:

White Palace

White Palace

Via Garibaldi, 11, Genoa

Closed today: open tomorrow at 09:00

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It is a painting, so to speak, autobiographical and for this reason enriched with the double artistic and emotional-sentimental value: first of all, it constitutes a real filial homage, but it can also be read as an act of gratitude by the student towards the own teacher. Luca Cambiaso, the most important painter of the sixteenth century in Genoa, had, in fact, his father Giovanni, an artist well connected with the Genoese client, as his first teacher. He introduced him to the art of painting by showing him the fundamental notions through the continuous exercise on the masters of the past and also insisting on letting him study the art of foreshortening and modeling, so much so that at fifteen Luca had already achieved a good education and could be inserted in the construction sites that adorned the facades of Genoese buildings. The advanced age of his father Giovanni constitutes the terminus ante quem for the chronological location of the work, presumably executed around 1570, not long before the death of the portrayed in 1579. The pictorial execution is of great rigor and simplicity. Using a range of shades ranging from brown to black, spread for thin and light glazes, the painter gives the whole an almost monochromatic effect, which affects both the room in which the scene is set and the characters. The format, more or less square, enhances the two faces, which are located close together and at the same height. The father stares the viewer directly in the eye; Luca, on the other hand, looks elsewhere, perhaps in the mirror he needed to observe himself in the act of painting himself. Above, affixed to the wall, you can see some objects that evidently allude to a painter's studio: two medallions, probably casts from ancient or antiquing gems and, in the middle of them, a leg that projects its shadow on the wall, probably a mannequin of those that were used for the study of positions, perhaps allusion to the activity of sculpture, practiced by the artist very early under the impulse of his father.
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Title: Self-portrait of the painter in the act of painting the portrait of his father

Author: Luca Cambiaso

Date: 1570

Technique:

Displayed in: White Palace

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