Alice Neel, oil on Canvas 1980
Suzanne Valadon, Adam and Eve, oil on canvas, 1909
Eowyn Wilcox, In the Bathtub, oil on canvas over panel, 2008
Pierre Bonnard, the Boxer (Self-Portrait), oil on canvas, 1931
Eowyn Wilcox, Double Self-Portrait, oil on canvas over panel, 2007
Sir Stanley Spencer, Self-Portrait with Patricia Preece, oil on canvas, 1937
Paula Modersohn-Becker, Self Portrait Semi-Nude with Amber Necklace and Flowers, oil on canvas, 1906
Egon Schiele, Nude Self Portrait, watercolor, bodycolor and graphite on paper, 1917
Francesco Clemente, Self Portrait with Two Heads, oil on canvas, 2002
Francis Bacon, Two Figures, oil on canvas, 1953
Lucas Samaras, Photo-Transformation, Poloroid, 1976
Lucian Freud, Self-Portrait, oil on canvas, 1993
The purpose of a nude self-portrait is a representation of an artist by the artist. Although nude self-portraits have been made by artists since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid 15th century that artists can be frequently identified depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important characters in their work. With better and less expensive mirrors, and the advent of the panel portrait, many painters, sculptors and printmakers tried some form of self-portraiture. Portrait of a Man in a Turban by Jan van Eyck of 1433 may well be the earliest known panel self-portrait.He painted a separate portrait of his wife, and he belonged to the social group that had begun to commission portraits, already more common among wealthy Netherlanders than south of the Alps. The genre is venerable, but not until the Renaissance, with increased wealth and interest in the individual as a subject, did it become truly popular.