| During the first decade of the sixteenth century Giorgione painted himself as the biblical hero in his David with the Head of Goliath. With that image he introduced the allegorical self-portrait into Venetian Renaissance art and produced the first of twelve images in which Renaissance and early Baroque artists working in Italy portrayed themselves as protagonists in biblical scenes of beheading or its aftermath. In the ensuing 125 years, Pordenone, Titian, Palm Vecchio, Veronese, Lavinia Fontana, Caravaggio, Cristofano Allori, Artemisia Gentileschi, Bernini, and Vouet, all working in Italy, participated in this bizarre self-portrait sub-genre by presenting themselves as either David, Goliath, John the Baptist, Judith, or Holofernes. In this dissertation, cultural context, contemporary artistic theories, and individual circumstances are investigated in order to provide a multi-faceted answer to the question: Why would these eleven individual artists, working separately, choose to present themselves in such a peculiar way?;Chapter One is a chronological introduction of the twelve decapitation self-portraits, and Chapter Two is an examination of the larger historical context in which these works were produced. During this period, biographers recorded the life histories, attributions to, and professional activities of artists, while patrons increasingly displayed artists' self-portraits in their personal collections. Painters, responding to this new demand for their likenesses, began to create self-portraits that they deemed worthy of display in prominent collections and among images of their peers. Chapter Three investigates various self-portraiture categories to gain a more thorough understanding of how artists fashioned images of themselves and the messages conveyed through those paintings. In Chapter Four, the six decapitation self-portraits produced by artists in the during the cinquecento are analyzed, while Chapter Five is devoted to the six images painted in Italian centers outside of Venice during the early Baroque period. For each decapitation self-portrait, the artist's responses to contemporary artistic theories regarding imitation, emulation, and invention will be taken into account as will the relevant personal circumstances and artistic stimuli that may have influenced his/her choice of guise. Additionally, ideas and associations prompted by these iconographically unusual images will be considered. |
