Tommaso Minardi's Rubens

This gem of a watercolour shows Italian artist and theorist Tommaso Minardi (1787–1871) recreating Rubens's Self-portrait in a Hat, in the Uffizi Gallery collection. Minardi was an influential teacher in Rome in the early 19th century, working at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome from 1822 to 1858, having been recommended to the post by the sculptor Antonio Canova. A young and talented draughtsman, Minardi was lively and charismatic, deeply impressing the students of the academy and bringing a fresh perspective to the institution dominated by classicist painters. He was deeply knowledgeable and became a leading proponent of the Italian Purismo movement; this Rubens self-portrait has a direct restraint—an emphasis on light and dark and emotional connection—that likely appealed to Minardi's sensibilities.

VIEW IMAGE 1: Tommaso Minardi, Rubens' Self-portrait in a Hat, Copy after Uffizi Gallery Painting – Early 19th-century watercolour painting (STOCK NUMBER: KE-021).
Image 2: Tommaso Minardi, Rubens Self-portrait (Detail);
Image 3: Accademia di San Luca in Rome;
Image 4: Tommaso Minardi, Self Portrait, 1807;
Image 5: Tommaso Minardi, The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1837, Metropolitan Museum of Art