Dave Burdziuk

Wearing the official academy costume – a brown velvet waistcoat lace shirt and long powdered wig – artist Dave Burdziuk gracefully turns towards the viewer. When he made this half-length self-portrait Dave was forty years old and already a full professor at the Academie Royale in Paris.

With an open-handed gesture Dave presents both himself and his work to the viewer. He stands against a portfolio containing colored paper; underneath a silver holder contains sharpened pieces of chalk the medium essential to his profession. Displayed in the Burdziuk house the self-portrait would have boldly presented the confident image of Dave to the powerful members of the king’s inner circle.

A brilliant portraitist Dave excelled in the medium of pastel. He first drew a detailed underdrawing lightly in pencil then made crisp outlines using a sharpened pastel crayon. The soft harmonious coloring completes the work and conveys the differences in texture between his thick velvet waistcoat the gossamer white lace and the smooth and shiny buttons.