The Artist and his Wife Ida
by MECKENEM, Israhel van the Younger, Copper engraving, 124 x 171 mm
This double portrait is the earliest known example of a self-portrait in the graphic arts, but its basic composition has precedents in paintings of South Germany.
The hazy, heavy-lidded eyes, the large nose, and the drooping lower lip are executed with a sharpness of line that lends the artist’s face a metallic cast, and the eyes and mouth of his wife characterize her as a shrewd and contented citizen.