The first list of Christmas. Self-Portraits

In the run up to Christmas I’ve been working on more portraits than usual.
Portraits are always intriguing to work on as well as demanding; who’s the subject listening to or flirting with such a cock of the head? What’s provoked that smile playing at the edge of the lips, or the outright laugh in the eyes?
With portraits and raw personality much on my mind, and as it’s the season for lists and best of compilations, I think I’ll join in too:
So here is the first of my Christmas lists - Self-portraits Through Time.

1. Yes, yes, got to put Rembrandt in the top spot.

2. Durer next. Such vanity too. Love the hair.

3. No surprises so far, but perhaps Sofonisba Anguissola is not such a familiar name.
Her dates are c.1532 – 1625. and I’m looking at three portraits she painted of herself, first as a teenager, then as an assured and highly skilled 30-something. She lived well into her 90's and most moving is a portrait she painted of herself when in her 70’s. Assured, dignified, unflinching.
Sofonisba has been described as the greatest female Italian painter of the Renaissance, with her work compared to that of Titian with one of her portraits – that of the Infanta Catalina Micaela – long mistakenly attributed to El Greco.