Artists’ paintings of other artists highlighted in new UK exhibition

A new exhibition in the UK explores a unique artistic “sub-subgenre” — portraits of artists by other artists.

Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists features more than 150 such works at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, many of which serve to illuminate how eminent contemporaries viewed the social milieu within which they worked, The Guardian wrote: Raphael famously included Leonardo and Michelangelo in his 16th century fresco depicting the School of Athens.

While painting friends was cheaper than using models, what is most intriguing about such portraits, the curator said, “is that you have two peers looking at each other with affection, love, respect, rivalry and so much more that is not usually present in a standard commission relationship.”