Even in the context of the present exhibition, this is a peculiarly complex image. In 1696 Godfrey Kneller painted a portrait of his collaborator and friend, the printmaker John Smith, with Smith holding an impression of his mezzotint after Kneller's self-portrait. Smith subsequently made this mezzotint after his own portrait, and the print thus simultaneously records Kneller's portrait of Smith, Kneller's self-portrait and Smith's print of Kneller's self-portrait.

Cat. 24