Self-made
1899
In this sharp 1899 satire by Frank Nankivell, a wealthy matron in a loud floral dress enthusiastically gestures toward a portrait of a knight in armor, explaining it to a younger socialite. The title 'Self-made' is a clever pun on the Gilded Age ideal of the 'self-made man'—usually a wealthy industrialist. The joke here is likely twofold: either the mother is bragging that she 'made' this great man (her son), or the subject is a nouveau riche millionaire trying to buy aristocratic class by having himself painted as a medieval hero. Nankivell, the art editor for Puck magazine, was a master at poking fun at the social pretensions of New York's high society, capturing the exact moment where new money tried to dress up as old nobility.