Self-Portrait

1877

Medium

Pastel and gouache, on brown paper

Dimensions

45.7 × 28.6 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-208724

Francesco Paolo Michetti chose to title this drawing *Scherzo* to reflect the intention behind his self-portrait. To express the idea of a *scherzo*, a sprightly musical composition or movement, Michetti applied his materials in a quick, gestural manner that conjures up the music's darting, skipping rhythms. The brilliance of Michetti's color, particularly the halo of white around his face, also evokes the *scherzo* 's liveliness. During the later 1800s, many artists believed in a concept known as *synesthesia*: that color and sound were so closely related that color could stimulate the sensation of sound and sound could stimulate the sensation of color. At age twenty-six, in the same year that one of his pictures received great public acclaim, Michetti drew multiple self-portraits. His direct gaze, the proud angle of his head, and the bravura handling convey his self-confidence.