EPPH - Every Painter Paints Himself

Here is a good example of how a borrowed form borrows meaning. In Artemisia Gentileschi’s self-portrait as an Allegory of Painting, it has been recognized by others that Artemisia is thinking of herself as a personification of Art. Yet scholars' continuing belief in "art as an imitation of nature" leaves experts without a good reason why she would.

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Even when Mary Garrard, the feminist art historian, found the answer she did not know it. Noting that Artemisia had turned the pose in Caravaggio’s Narcissus to the left, she ignored the implication in Artemisia's source.{ref1} 

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Narcissus, of course, fell in love with his own reflection, a legend that Alberti later famously remarked led to the invention of painting. Thus, in basing her self-portrait on Caravaggio's painting, Artemisia's meaning is as clear as the water Narcissus looked into: painters paint themselves.