Elisabeth Keyser’s self-portrait is a typical studio portrait, with brushes, pictures for inspiration on the wall, and a large canvas. She observes herself with an intense gaze. The light on the leaves of the plant suggests that there is a window behind her. This image was painted two years after Keyser began studying in Paris under Léon Bonnat, one of the best portraitists of the time in France. She later ran a painting school of her own in Stockholm.