Self-portrait

portrait

We know only two self-portraits by Mányoki: one from his youth, a washed drawing made in 1693 (formerly in Budapest, Lajos Ernst Collection) and this half-figure portrait showing the mature artist. In his charmingly confident craftsman-portrait he depicts himself at work, holding a palette and brushes in his hand, wearing a shirt with rolled-up sleeves, opening over his chest. In a trick of self-portraits popular since Rembrandt, the soft velvet hat with its upturned rim casts a warm brown shadow over the upper half of his face.

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About the Artist

Ádám Mányoki

1673 – 1757

The most significant Hungarian painter of his age. Mányoki, the son of a protestant priest, learnt to paint in Hamburg first, then he became a pupil of A. Scheitz, a famous German painter, in Hannover. His development was especially influenced by French portrait painters, in particular by Largillière. He served the Prussian court where he met the wife of Ferenc Rákóczi II, a reigning prince, then the prince himself, who soon made him his court painter. He was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Netherlands. On Rákóczi's recommendation, he was taken into the service of Augustine, the Strong, Saxonian prince-elector and Polish king. He worked in Warsaw in 1713, in Dresden and in Berlin in 1714 where he painted mostly portraits of people and famous beauties of the court. He returned to Hungary in 1724 to settle down. Although he had orders from aristocratic families to paint portraits, he did not earn enough to live on painting. From 1732 he worked in Berlin and Leipzig, and then in Dresden until his death.

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