Though the self-portrait as signature appears to have been practiced widely in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, the self-portrait purely for it's own sake is traced to Northern Europe. The earliest surviving example of this kind of self-portrait was Jean Fouquet's gold and enamel hand-held likeness dated in 1470. But it was Albrecht Dürer, born one year later, who is seen as the first artist to make self-portraiture a major part of his work. The greatest printmaker of his time, Dürer seemed fascinated by his own image. His first self-portrait dates back to his adolescence in 1484. He continued to explore his changing facade and social status until 1522, a few years before his death when he used himself as a model in Christ as the Man of Sorrows.

Dürer's most impressive self-portrait is from 1500. Janson described it best when he said, "...the solemn, frontal pose and the Christ-like idealization of the features assert an authority quite beyond the range of ordinary portraits. The picture looks, in fact, like a secularized icon..." Here, it is apparent that Dürer could use his skills as an artisan to promote himself, much the way early portrait painters were commissioned to immortalize their employers. Dürer painted his image to project an air of importance, to create perhaps, an increased social status. He was keenly aware of his audience. His portraits, though they do record change and emotional transition over time, were not an exploration of his psyche so much as a means of showing his rising social status.