This self-portrait was signed and dedicated to Edmé-Alexis-Alfred Dehodencq’s friend and fellow Orientalist painter Eugène Fromentin. Probably in thanks for Fromentin’s recommendation that Dehodencq, along with seven other artists, receive the prestigious Légion d’honneur in 1870. The artists were close friends, and Fromentin was the godfather to Dehodencq’s daughter. This painting remained in the Fromentin family until 2007. It is a penetrating image of an artist at the height of his powers. Dehodencq was surely influenced by Rembrandt’s mature self-portraits, for example the clothing, the pose, and the works’ overall seriousness and monumentality.