halo snake self portrait halo snake known oil wood painting french artist represents late brittany period fishing village northwestern france longer comfortable moved friend student small group artists stayed months autumn summer group spent time interior inn major type art work painted dining room companion piece portrait jacob painting shows red background halo head hanging holds snake hand plants flowers appear foreground religious symbolism stylistic influence japanese wood block prints apparent portrait completed years visited self portraits completed lifetime work reached art market sold paris collected works period american banker acquired painting death washington background artist figure movement known contributions style spent summer brittany artists colony known influence work produced late painted weeks south france breakdown leading cut ear hospitalized left saw continued exchange letters ideas briefly returned paris lived painter returned spring find crowded moved farther away escape tourists foreign painters arrived october found inn run introduced novel way conversation read novel years acquainted ideas influence approach art time interior inn canvas painted work walls ceilings windows later joined artists according room completed encompassed paintings major type genre landscape self life history painting media ranging oil plaster oil canvas panel prints drawings painted vessels exotic found objects carved figures wood tried win affection advances intimate instead leaving jealous departed november leaving work inn retired moved taking art works continued lease inn sold new owner inn converted restaurant rest murals discovered buried intact development previously decorated rooms paintings particular rooms restaurants paris appear influenced work began dining room similar fashion prepared portrait jacob right left respectively fireplace upper panels wooden doors gave panels subtle surface white chalk ground wave pattern works completed mid november mid december description french art historian notes designed halo snake companion piece portrait jacob caricature appears red background halo head hanging holds snake hand appear plants flowers foreground curator observes religious symbolism images noting snake refer garden sin fall man divides canvas half painting saint reflecting personal myth artist portion painting halo looking away portion holds snake completing notes art historian critic interpret self portrait demonic interpretation illustrated companion piece portrait jacob visually eyes red hair shaped like horns portrait left dining room created corresponds snake held hand self portrait right door dining room books appear table portrait seventeenth century english poet respective literary allusions character described play directly corresponding self portraits argues portrays demonic angel work shows influence japanese wood block prints painting wears art historian compares colored buddhist monk influenced earlier dedicated letter dated october describes self portrait character simple eternal compared traditional self portrait dedicated self portrait painted sinister sold batch works total exhibited paris ownership details painting thought passed hands owners including london art collector later lord sold churchill galleries sold american banker acquired work painting later bequeathed death opened
Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake