Pio Casimiro Bacener
Description
A freed slave at the time he made this self-portrait, Pío Casimiro Bacener depicts himself as a distinguished gentleman. His worried expression, however, belies his confident pose. This portrait was probably painted as an assignment for the Public School of Drawing in San Juan. It is painted over another image, revealed through X-ray photography, of a child or an angel with hands clasped in prayer.
Image
Oil On Wood
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Teodoro Vidal Collection
