In this self-portrait, Hippolyte Petitjean depicted himself standing before an easel while gazing directly at the viewer. The drawing is one of five representations of himself that the artist created late in his career based on his admiration for Rembrandt van Rijn. Petitjean was deeply influenced by the anarchist writer Charles-Albert, who argued for the utopian potential of artmaking, suggesting that the work was meant as a broader statement about the place of the artist within contemporary society.