{
  "type": "book",
  "site": {
    "name": "The Book Quiver",
    "language": "en-US",
    "url": "https://www.bookquiver.com"
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  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "title": "The Self-Portrait",
  "subtitle": null,
  "slug": "the-self-portrait",
  "url": "https://www.bookquiver.com/james-hall/the-self-portrait",
  "json": "https://www.bookquiver.com/james-hall/the-self-portrait.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.bookquiver.com/james-hall/the-self-portrait.md",
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "James Hall",
      "slug": "james-hall",
      "url": "https://www.bookquiver.com/james-hall"
    }
  ],
  "language": "en_GB",
  "original_title": null,
  "original_language": null,
  "first_published": "2015-08-24",
  "genres": [],
  "series": [],
  "cover": "https://quivercdn.com/covers/thames-and-hudson/james-hall/the-self-portrait_978-05-0029-211-2.jpg?v=2026-07-14%2019%3A51%3A38",
  "description": "In this broad cultural survey of self-portraiture, art historian and critic James Hall brilliantly maps the history of the genre, from the earliest myths of Narcissus and the Christian tradition of ‘bearing witness’ to the prolific self-image-making of today’s contemporary artists. His vivid account shows how artists’ depictions of themselves have been part of a continuing tradition that reaches back for centuries. Along the way he reveals the importance of the medieval ‘mirror craze’; the explosion of the genre during the Renaissance; the confessional self-portraits of Titian and Michelangelo; the role of biography for serial self-portraitists such as Courbet and van Gogh; themes of sex and genius in works by Munch, Bonnard and Modersohn-Becker; and the latest developments of the genre in the era of globalizationThe full range of self-portraits is covered here, from comic and caricature self-portraits to ‘invented’ or imaginary ones, as well as key collections of self-portraiture such as that of the Medici in Florence. Throughout, Hall asks why – and when – artists have chosen to make self-portraits, and looks deeply into the worlds and mindsets of the artists who have created them. Comprehensive and beautifully illustrated, the book features the work of a wide range of artists including Alberti, Caravaggio, Courbet, Dürer, Emin, Gauguin, Giotto, Goya, Kahlo, Koons, Magritte, Mantegna, Picasso, Raphael, Rembrandt and Warhol. Offering a rich and lively history, The Self-Portrait is an essential read for all those interested in this most enduringly popular and humane of art forms.",
  "editions": [
    {
      "title": "The Self-Portrait",
      "subtitle": null,
      "url": "https://www.bookquiver.com/james-hall/the-self-portrait/9780500292112",
      "publisher": "Thames and Hudson",
      "publisher_series": [],
      "translators": [],
      "medium": "paper",
      "duration_seconds": null,
      "narrators": [],
      "illustrators": [],
      "cover_artists": [],
      "isbn": "978-05-0029-211-2",
      "pages": 288,
      "published": "2015-08-24",
      "language": "en_GB",
      "cover": "https://quivercdn.com/covers/thames-and-hudson/james-hall/the-self-portrait_978-05-0029-211-2.jpg?v=2026-07-14%2019%3A51%3A38"
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  "other_languages": [],
  "characters": [],
  "chapters": []
}