With this evocative self-portrait, now in a private collection, our tour of Guercino's studio begins. The artist portrays himself at the age of around forty, as can be guessed from the slender face marked with wrinkles. At the height of his artistic success and notoriety, he decided to depict himself with his colour palette in hand and dressed in a sophisticated dark garment with a white collar. The clothing, typical of the middle-class of the day, is emphasised with fast brushstrokes aimed at suggesting the reflection of the light on the fabric. Apparently still only a sketch, it evokes an intimate, private and informal atmosphere that suggests a purely domestic destination. This theory was confirmed in the absence of replicas or derivations, with the exception of one copy preserved at the Louvre, while the best-known effigy of Guercino was carved by Ottavio Leoni and was widely circulated.