In my newest oil on canvas I step into the role of Thamar, the ancient Greek painter, and reflect on creative identity, female artistic lineage, and the timeless act of creation.
I am delighted to present my latest work: Self Portrait after Thamar.
“Self Portrait after Thamar painting the goddess Diana” Oil on canvas, 2026
This self-portrait continues my exploration of creative identity by placing myself in the position of Thamar (also known as Tamar, Tamara, Thamyris, Thamaris or Timarete), a renowned female painter of 5th-century BC Greece. Daughter of the painter Micon the Younger, Thamar learned her craft within the family tradition of the time. Pliny the Elder praised her in Natural History (77 CE), noting that she “scorned the duties of women and practised her father’s art.” Though no works by her hand survive, ancient sources describe her famous depiction of the goddess Diana, which was displayed with reverence in the Temple of Ephesus until its destruction in 401 AD.
My painting draws direct inspiration from a 15th-century illumination that accompanies Giovanni Boccaccio’s De claris mulieribus (Of Noble Women), one of the great best-sellers of the early Renaissance. In this anonymous French miniature, Thamar is shown dressed in medieval fashion, painting the goddess Diana — an image that beautifully collapses time and allows us to see the ancient artist through the eyes of a later era.
My Personal Visual Language
In this self-portrait I portray myself as Thamar, palette in hand, actively painting the goddess. The palette contains every colour used in the entire composition — a deliberate meta-statement: the tool of creation becomes both subject and record of the painting itself.
The composition is framed with decorative medieval-style borders composed of small coloured squares, paying homage to the illuminated manuscripts that preserved Thamar’s story. These vibrant “illuminated” edges celebrate colour as both historical reference and living material.
The figure of Diana takes on abstracted, modern forms reminiscent of Picasso and the Venus de Milo — the iconic archaeological statue discovered on the island of Milos that embodies the classical ideal of female fertility. In my painting, this form is reinterpreted as a symbol of female creative fertility: the goddess becomes both muse and metaphor for the generative power of women artists throughout history. By painting Diana through a female gaze, I reclaim and reinterpret the long tradition of male artists depicting the female form and essence.
Stylised pine trees appear as bold triangular forms, inspired by Julian Schnabel’s celebrated Pine Trees series (also known as Italy Through Its Trees), in which the artist explored the iconic umbrella pines of the Italian landscape through his signature broken-plate paintings. These triangular shapes pay homage not only to Schnabel’s work but also to my own deep love of Italy and nature. At the same time, they serve as a tribute to women’s traditional role in cooking and nourishing the family — plates becoming vessels of sustenance — paralleled with the artist’s role in nourishing humanity’s collective appetite for beauty, meaning, and inspiration.
A bright lemon rests on the table — a recurring personal motif chosen for its intense colour and symbolic vitality.
The letters T H A M A R, rendered in medieval script, float across the left side of the canvas as a prominent visual and compositional element. More than a signature, the name becomes a conceptual bridge — linking my own name, Tamara, with this ancient painter and underscoring the continuity of women’s artistic voices across more than two millennia. In this way the work of an artist is known by its name, yet ultimately transcends the individual to serve a broader artistic legacy dedicated to humanity.
Through vibrant colour, expressive line, and layered historical references, this self-portrait becomes a celebration of female creativity and artistic lineage. It honours the women who painted before us, while asserting the right of contemporary women artists to shape their own narratives.
I hope this work resonates with anyone who has ever felt the pull of creation across time.
The painting is available for acquisition. Inquiries are welcome via DM .
Tamara Jare Ljubljana, May 2026
