English: Woodville was born into a prosperous Baltimore family. Having access to the art holdings of Robert Gilmor, Jr., one of the city's pioneer art collectors, he had the opportunity to become familiar with Dutch and Flemish paintings showing domestic scenes of people in interiors. Woodville trained in Düsseldorf, Germany, and remained abroad for the remainder of his career, although he continued to exhibit his scenes of daily life in America at the Art Union in New York. At the age of 30, he died of an overdose of morphine. Woodville appears to have painted this self-portrait while looking into a mirror.