Johannes gumpp wiki

Since the existence of the art of painting, artists have created self-portraits or included themselves in representations of mythological, religious, or invented themes. Until the invention of photography, the easiest, though not the only, way to create a self-portrait was to look in a mirror. Depending on the era, this could be more or less expensive.

In the 17th century, for example, owning a mirror indicated a certain economic capacity. It is in this century that we find the curious artist of whom only one work is known, and it is so strange that it has given rise to multiple speculations. This is Johannes Gumpp, an Austrian painter born in Innsbruck around , and little is known about him except that he belonged to a family of artists active in Tyrol and Bavaria between the 16th and 18th centuries.

He moved to Florence at a very young age, where in he created two copies of his only known work.

Johannes gumpp wiki: Johannes Gumpp was an Austrian painter.

After that, nothing is known about his life, whether he remained in the Italian city or moved elsewhere, and, of course, the approximate date of his death. The only things known, as mentioned, are two self-portraits actually two copies of the same painting , one in a circular format with a diameter of 89 centimeters, preserved in the Vasari Corridor of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and another rectangular one that belongs to a private collection in Pocking, Upper Bavaria.

The work is a kind of triple self-portrait, where the artist represents himself three times: the first with his back to the viewer without showing his face, the second through his reflection in the mirror where he is looking, and the third in the painting where he is portraying himself. Both copies of the work are signed and dated on the sheet of paper depicted at the top edge of the canvas.