Self Portrait Wearing A Summer Hat

Description

Gustave Caillebotte is remembered mostly for the streets and river scenes of Paris, painted with a straightforward eye and an unusual interest in perspective and space. Self portraits are rare in his output, which makes this one worth pausing on. Here the artist turns the same steady attention he gave to boulevards and boaters onto his own face, set beneath the brim of a summer hat, and the result feels more private than the outdoor scenes he is known for.

About Self Portrait Wearing a Summer Hat

The picture is close and plain in its arrangement. Caillebotte places himself near the centre of the canvas, the hat shading the upper part of the face and throwing the eyes into a quieter register than the rest of the paint surface. Light falls in a way that is soft rather than dramatic, catching the brim and the collar while leaving the background loose and undefined. The brushwork is direct, built up in short, confident strokes that read as fast when seen up close and settle into a coherent likeness at a normal viewing distance.

The colour is kept narrow, working through warm skin tones, the pale straw of the hat, and a muted ground that refuses to compete with the face. This restraint suits a self portrait; there is nothing performed about it, no attempt to flatter or dramatise. It sits among the later works in which Caillebotte, already established and financially independent of the art market, painted more for himself, and that ease shows in the informality of the pose and the directness of the handling.

The hand-painted reproduction

Bringing this into a hand-painted oil painting reproduction means matching that same restraint stroke for stroke. Our painters study the original palette, the fall of light across the hat and face, and the loose, economical brushwork Caillebotte favoured, then rebuild the image in oil on artist-grade canvas rather than reproducing it as a flat print. Every reproduction is worked by hand, so the texture of the paint, the slight ridges of impasto at the brim of the hat, and the softer, thinner passages in the background all remain visible, giving the finished oil on canvas reproduction the presence of a painted object rather than a copy printed onto a surface.

• Hand-painted in oil on artist-grade canvas by a trained painter
• Available in a range of sizes to suit your wall
• Arrives gallery-ready, prepared for display
• Comes with a certificate of authenticity
• Backed by 90 day returns, with a full refund or a free replacement and no restocking fee