This dazzling, unpublished self-portrait, painted on wood like the two in the Uffizi Gallery, is entirely similar, albeit larger, to the one (54 x 44 cm) that came to the Florentine museum in 1850 as a bequest from Bianca Milesi Mojon, a patriot and writer, a friend of the painter who had given her drawing lessons. The quality is equal, if not superior, to that of the Florentine example, making the work an important addition to Andrea Appiani's oeuvre.
Thus, for chronology purposes, it should refer to the same period, between 1810 and 1811, therefore in the full maturity of the artist who had by now completed his most important works, such as the cycle of Napoleonic frescoes in the Royal Palace, and was preparing to complete the magnificent Parnassus , considered his pictorial testament, in the vault of the conversation hall on the main floor of the Royal Villa in Milan, built and inhabited by Lodovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso and at that time become the residence of the viceregal couple Eugene de Beauharnais and Augusta Amalia of Bavaria. It's remarkable how, in this, as in other previous Self-Portraits, all marked by the same essentiality, Appiani chose to represent himself not as a painter with the tools of his trade, but by focusing solely on his facial features and his personality, conveyed by the intensity of his gaze fixed on the viewer. Meanwhile, the quality of the brushstrokes, which linger on the silvery hair rendered in all its thickness, the transparency of the skin, and the depth of the intense eyes, is very high.
Bibliographic references
F. Leone, Andrea Appiani, pittore di Napoleone, vita, opere, documenti  (1754 - 1817) , Milan, Skira, 2015;
Appiani. Il Neoclassicismo a Milano, exhibition catalog (Milan, Palazzo Reale, September 23, 2025 – January 11, 2026), edited by F. Leone, F. Mazzocca, and D. Piraina. Milan, Electa, 2025.

Fernando Mazzocca