RAFFAELLO Sanzio
(b. 1483, Urbino, d. 1520, Roma)

Self-Portrait

1506
Oil on wood, 47 x 35 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

This painting has been acknowledged as the self-portrait of Raphael as a young man, also based on the comparison between this work and the other self-portrait of the painter visible in the fresco depicting the School of Athens in the Room of the Segnatura in the Vatican, commissioned by Pope Julius II and painted between 1509 and 1511. Although painted using different techniques, in both portraits the artist portrays himself with an identical expression and features. His hairstyle and cut are those typical of the court page of the Renaissance and his dark cap, in the style later known as “raffaella", is of the kind used by painters, as is his dark robe, from which a white shirt is barely visible underneath. In short, he is wearing his simple working attire, an intentional allusion to his trade, which he proudly proclaims here in this way.

The authorship of the painting was definitely established by the investigations carried out on it in 1983, for the exhibition staged in Palazzo Pitti to celebrate the centenary of Raphael's birth.