Morrocco trained at Gray’s School of Art. Aged 17, he painted a self portrait in an Old Master style. The picture shows the face full-on, its greenish-brown highlighted tones partly like those of the fields beyond. His look is ambiguously one of attack and defense, self-assurance and vulnerability. His 1964 self portrait has similar qualities to his 1934 self portrait, yet notably accentuated. Its handling of paint is much freer. There is a look at once morose and withdrawn, yet defiant to the point of looking mock-bellicose. The forehead is now considerably furrowed, the bags under the eyes more pronounced, and the full lips turned downwards at the sides. The red hat – a workaday, modern woollen hat but preciously reminiscent of velvet caps worn by Old Masters – forms an exhilarating contrast to the strong, plain green background. Morrocco wrote to Borchard: ‘You know your request is almost impossible to refuse anyway – what artist could refuse such a double-edged appeal to his ego.’ Interviewed in 1993, Morrocco spoke of portraiture in general: ‘you must make ... not simply a psychic likeness or a vague spiritual likeness, but a physical likeness first ... otherwise it really isn’t a portrait.’