Renaissance self-portraits and the moral judgement of taste

Abstract

The following comments are concerned with a special feature of the portrait: clothing and its profound significance. Two artist’s portraits are exemplary for a view at artists who refer to their social standing. The examples are the self-portrait of Albrecht Dürer and the portrait-bust of Anton Pilgram in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral. While scholars did many investigations on the Dürer self-portrait in comparison the bust of Anton Pilgram leads a shadowy existence. For overarching portrait studies and especially studies on self-portraits of the Renaissance, the Vienna example has been overlooked. Reason enough to get it back into the limelight because it is of exceptional quality and the bust is a jewel of iconography of portraits.

Keywords

• Anton Pilgram
• Albrecht Durer
• Portrait
• Self-portrait
• Justice
• Aesthetics
• vestment