Dürer, Albrecht (1471-1528)
Self-Portrait or Portrait of the Artist Holding a Thistle
1493
Parchment glued on canvas, 56.5 x 44.5 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Dürer‘s first painted self-portrait, possibly an engagement portrait – the thistle or panicaut (eryngium), which Dürer is holding, would in this case be a symbol of marital fidelity. (Louvre)