Art throb #6: Self Portrait as a Monk (1779) by Johan Zoffany

Johan Zoffany, Self Portrait as a Monk (1779)

Oil on panel, 43 x 39 cm

Galeria Nazionale, Parma

Every so often a painting chooses me, as opposed to the other way round. I must confess, I didn't know of this painting until I read about it in Mary Beard's blog. Mary Beard's husband is an art historian, so in her blog she mentions art quite a lot. This painting features in the current Zoffany exhibition at the Royal Academy in London, and I'm quite keen to go along and see it for myself.

By all accounts, Zoffany himself seems to be a rum character, a bit of a card. He was born in Frankfurt in 1733 and moved to London in 1760 for work. A gifted social networker, he forged links with high society and members of the aristocracy and the royal family, his informal family portraits enjoying great popularity (despite my lack of knowledge, when I viewed his paintings online I had a hunch that Zoffany may have painted Mozart, and sure enough he did – this Portrait of Mozart Aged 8, holding a bird's nest). He seems to have packed a lot into his life and travelled widely, making numerous visits to Italy and India.

The Tribuna of the Uffizi, by Johan Zoffany (1772-8)

123.5 cm × 155.0 cm

Royal Collection, Windsor.

Perhaps his most well-known painting is this one of the real-life octagonal Tribuna room in the Uffizi gallery in Florence, which he has filled with artworks and crowds of people. A tour de force of a painting, it includes actual artworks by Raphael, Holbein, Rubens, Titian and others – paintings within the painting. According to Wikipedia, all the men are identifiable; stood in groups around specific pieces, they form amusing tableaus (gazing up at the Venus' bum on the right, for example). To have fitted so much activity into such a small space is no mean feat – Husband and I stood in this very room ourselves when we visited Florence on a cruise around italy in August 2009, although on that day it wasn't as cluttered or crowded as this (bizarrely, we were the only persons in it, in fact). The Venus statue on the right is still there, as is the Venus d'Urbino painting in the foreground.

But I digress. The self portrait above is very much the painting of the moment, attracting a lot of curiosity. Zoffany created it when he was 45 and, according to Mary Beard, the monk's habit he is putting on is a costume for a fancy dress party. His hands form an interesting gesture – not only is he about to slip the garment over his head, but he could also be about to put them together in prayer. And there's more – the momento mori still life on the shelf (the skull, a phallic bottle and a curious packet), and the rosary beads, are all symbolic. There's also a smaller version of the Venus d'Urbino painting on the right, as well as the obvious reference to Zoffany's profession on the table behind him... What's really captured everyone's attention, however, are the two condoms hanging on the wall behind him (beneath the shelf and to the left of the rosary beads). Perhaps he's taking them along with him to the party, but to store such items so publicly seems strange to modern eyes. Why are they there? Perhaps they have been used before, and have been hung up to dry, ready to be used again. Mary Beard suggests there's a third condom hanging over the Venus d'Urbino (there's a dialogue about it on her blog), as if to underline the attraction the painting had for him. Here it's been cropped out, so I'd need to see this painting in the flesh to make sure... But all things considered, there's quite a lot of sheath imagery in this painting. That he's slipping on his costume, passing his hands through forms not only a praying gesture (as if praying for a good time that night), but also a shape of a vagina. What a larf!