500 Self-portraits

A new version of a Phaidon classic published in 1937, this evocative and fascinating book, now issued as a paperback, presents 500 of the world's greatest self-portraits, arranged in a simple chronological sequence from ancient times to the late twentieth century. 'The mirror, above all - the mirror is our teacher,' wrote Leonardo da Vinci. Portraits are an endless source of fascination, responding as they do to the basic human impulse to look at faces and try to see into the character behind them. Self-portraits have the added fascination that comes from looking into the mirror and trying to study one's own face. Taking its inspiration from the classic Phaidon volume published in 1937 with the same title, this book presents an uninterrupted sequence of 500 self-portraits, in chronological order from ancient Egypt to the late twentieth century.