''Self-Portrait with a Black Dog'', ''Portrait of the Artist'' or ''Courbet with a Black Dog'' (French: ''Courbet au chien noir'') is an 1842 oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...

, retouched by the artist in 1844. It is now in the

Petit Palais The (; ) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the Exposition Universelle (1900), 1900 Exposition Universelle ("universal exhibition"), it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (''Musée des beaux-arts ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

History

This painting was one of the first by Courbet to be accepted at the

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

. In the official catalog of the exhibition, opened in March 1844 at the Louvre Palace, it appears under number 414, with the title ''Portrait of the Author''. Of the three paintings that he submitted, only this one was accepted. Analysis of the canvas reveals that it is the result of a re-use. Thus, we see on the contours the traces of a coat hanger, so as to present the painting in a rounded form. It is assumed that this painting was presented to the Salon public in the slightly rounded form. The artist is seen di sotto, involving a sunken viewer, suggesting that the painting may have been intended for an overdoor.

Description

A young man, Courbet himself, wearing a hat sits on the ground, flanked by a black dog. The character, leaning against a large rock, looks at the viewer while holding a pipe. Behind him a book and a cane are placed among the grass. In the distance are a landscape, a valley, trees and hills, overlooked by blue and cloudy skies. On the left are inscribed in blue the signature "Gustave Courbet" and a date, "1842".

Analysis

Courbet presents himself in the fashion of the time, with his bohemianism symbolized by his black cape hemmed in light, striped trousers, and long hair, in a landscape of his native land, which was assumed to be the Bonnevaux valley, but which is undoubtedly partly imaginary. By settling in the open air, he follows the process of the English portrait painters of the 18th century, which was in vogue during the Romantic era. The style and the motif of the painting are noticeably inspired by

Théodore Géricault Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (; 26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was a French painter and lithographer, whose best-known painting is '' The Raft of the Medusa''. Despite his short life, he was one of the pioneers of the Romanti ...

, but also by the "serpentine line" of

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...

. Ségolène Le Men, "Les «incipit» de Courbet et l’autoportrait", in Fabrice Flahutez (dir.), ''Visage et portrait, visage ou portrait'', Nanterre, Presses universitaires de Paris-Nanterre, 2010, p. 157-174 (French)

References

{{Gustave Courbet

Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...

Paintings by Gustave Courbet 1842 paintings Paintings of dogs Paintings in the Petit Palais