Johannes Gumpp — Triple Self-Portrait (1646)

In the Vasari Corridor at the Uffizi hangs what may be Johannes Gumpp’s only painting. At twenty years old, he shows himself from behind, staring into a mirror, painting what he sees. One man, three selves: back, reflection, and canvas.

The mirror face and the painted face don’t quite match. The nose shifts, the mouth changes. Even with mirrors, the self slips. Gumpp seems to admit you can’t ever get it exact—what you are, what you see, what you make. The most complicated painting I know.

I miss what I haven’t met, all the time.