This picture was painted after Davie's father (also an artist) gave his sixteen-year-old son oil paints, brushes and a mirror and invited him to paint a self-portrait. Davie has the intense and serious look of a young artist engaged in his work, clutching the tools of his trade. The painting was submitted as part of the artist's portfolio to Edinburgh College of Art, and helped to gain him an entrance scholarship. It is probably Davie's second painting, painted immediately after another self-portrait, which the artist later destroyed.