This intricate self portrait demonstrates Watts's adept handling of charcoal pencil by the time he was just 14 years old. It is in the style of Sir Anthony Van Dyck who was well known for the elaborate lace collars worn by his sitters in the 1630s, and such lacework, which culminated in decorative angles, soon became known as “Van Dyke points.” Watts beautifully emulates such lacework here, probably looking to Van Dyck's “Tripple Portrait” of Charles I (1635, Royal Collection) for inspiration for the collar and fashionable slashed sleeves. [https://www.wattsgallery.org.uk/collections/highlights-permanent-collection/#item-7840]