The History of the Easel
The Renaissance and Self-Portraiture
Moving through time into the Renaissance, we find that the self-consciousness of the artist begins to develop, and with it the appearance of the easel in various self-portraits, starting with Dürer's "Saint Jerome in his Study,"10
Antonis Mor's "Self-Portrait" in 155811 and Annibale Carracci in 1595, "Self Portrait on an Easel."12 The more famous Rembrandt is also found among the Renaissance self-portrait painters, starting in 1629.13 We start to realize by these self-portraits and their titles that by this time the easel has become an identifying factor for painters. Quicker to identify and more distinctive than the palette and brushes or other art supplies, the presence of an easel, more than any other singular object, marks the representation of a quintessential painter.
We see one example of this conscious symbolism in the self-titled "Hogarth Painting the Comic Muse," created in 1758. One writer observes, "this was a picture of a painter creating an image. Hogarth placed himself in front of his easel - almost dwarfed by it - painting his muse. …With a self-portrait more than any other Hogarth faced the problem of a balance between naturalism and an expected idea, this time of 'the artist.'" To move beyond just painting an artist, and to paint "the artist," Hogarth "…changed his mind as he worked. To begin with his easel was behind him on the other side, and he was painting a heroic model…" which evolved into "…Hogarth alone with his palette and his canvas."14 His concern with moving the wooden easel around on the page reveals his consciousness that the art easel is not just a sign holder or blackboard, but represents the artist at work.
Linguistically, the word "easel" as we know it traveled a circuitous path before entering the English language. It began in Old High German as "esil," meaning "ass," or in Latin, "asinus." It was then taken into Old Saxon as "esil," to Old English as "esol," then to Middle Dutch as "esel," from which we get our modern word, whose meaning moved from simply "ass" to the legged or horse-like structure we now associate with artist easels.15 It was considered to be a bone fide English word when it first appears in English literature in 1634 by a J. Bate in the phrase, "…provide a frame or easel called by artists."16 A year later, in his "Collection of Essays on the Wonder of Painting," Pierre Lebrun describes the easel as being an essential tool for painting,17 and the wondrous, versatile easel is here to stay.
| Beginnings | Medieval Era | Renaissance | Easel Painting | Antique Easels | Customized Easels | Conclusion |
