This self portrait is in the classical tradition of a mirror self-image. The stark framing of the mirror makes us aware that the distanced self-portrayal becomes a picture within a picture. Forge looks relaxed and informal. However, his rather bleary-eyed, puckered-lipped expression suggests a tentative weighing-up. Vertical and horizontal lines shows initial measuring up in the manner used by William Coldstream. Forge twice apologised for delays in contacting Borchard, saying he had been ‘terribly busy’. Indeed, as a painter, art critic and senior lecturer at the Slade, and then head of Fine Art at Goldsmith’s, his time was precious. In the 1960s, Forge came under Bomberg’s influence, as well as Frank Auerbach and Dorothy Mead – the latter with whom he had a relationship.