The first survey of women's self-portraiture to be focused exclusively on painting, this book opens with an original attempt to reconstruct from original accounts the work of artists of antiquity such as Marcia, Timarete and Eirene. The authors then select self-portraits by a range of European and American painters up to the present day to narrate the stylistic development of women's self-representation in those parts of the world. The story of the self-portrait offers fascinating insights which deepen our understanding of these artists' working lives, priorities and preoccupations. With its chronological sweep, its lavish illustrations, including many works which have not been reproduced in print before, and its extensive bibliography, this book is an indispensable guide to a fascinating subject.