It worked!

Fortunately the previous post had only one further pic - nor could I edit it to add more text ... the screen was adamant about  not  scrolling down. Hmph. We have a workaround: a new post.

The marvellous artist shown wearing her specs in her self portrait is a painting that I saw in Berlin, and she felt like an old friend, unexpectedly encountered "in real life" after being first found on the internet. And just as sometimes the names of old friends mysteriously elude recall, so it is with this one. I believe she was active in the late 18th century, and was the daughter of a painter - so many women who worked as artists were, not because of inheriting talent, but because of being in an environment where they could express and develop that an interest in painting.

Aha, found her - she's Anna Dorothea Therbush, painting herself in 1762, at the age of 41.