Regarded as one of Britain’s foremost 20th-century portraitists, Lucian Freud (1922–2011) was known for his uncompromising depictions of friends, family members and lovers over a career spanning more than sixty years. His intensely observed paintings are renowned for their unflinching realism and physicality, reflecting a life-long interest in the human body. In addition to painting, etching became an important aspect of his practice from the early 1980s. In Self-Portrait: Reflection, the artist looks indifferently towards the viewer. His facial contours and wrinkles protrude from the shadowy background, meticulously delineated by the rigorous marks of the etching needle. The composition – the only etching Freud made of himself – is similar to an earlier etched portrait of his stepson, Kai Boyt, whom he depicted several times in drawing, paint and print. While the large-scale work is similarly characterised by a solemn expression, the subject’s heavily worked features are contrasted here with a sparse background.