File:Selbstporträt, by Albrecht Dürer, from Prado in Google Earth.jpg

English: Dürer painted himself half-length and slightly turned, beside a window that opens onto a mountainous landscape. Dürer painted himself with an open black and white doublet with a striped cap, an undershirt trimmed with gold and a silk cord of blue and white threads holding up a grey-brown cloak that falls over his right shoulder and grey kidskin gloves. He wears long hair and is shown in half-length three-quarter view. The choice of elegant, aristocratic clothing and the severe gaze he directs at the viewer with haughty serenity indicate Dürer’s wish to show off his social standing.

This work is outstanding for its rich details, the meticulous treatment of qualities, and its brilliant, gold-toned color scheme, all of which complement an impeccably precise drawing.

His satisfaction with his own artistic capacity is manifest in the German inscription on the window ledge, which reads: “1498, I painted it according to my figure. I was twenty-six years old Albrecht Dürer.”