BACK TO THE ARTIST   Family of Saltimbanques, 1905           Details     Description     Artist Picasso, Pablo Every few yearsPicassoconcentrates into one large painting the problems of an entire period of work. The composition of The Saltimbanques was perhaps suggested by Manet’s painting of an old musician seated out-of-doors and surrounded by five figures three of them children. The preliminary studies differ considerably from the finished picture, and while at work on the canvas itself ,Picassochanged the composition several times. In the final painting, as the detail reveals, the profile of the harlequin at the left had been altered to suggest a self-portrait of the artist.     Date 1905   Institution National Gallery of Art     Medium Oil on canvas   Dimensions 212.8 * 229.6 cm