The current dating of the painting Pred Zrcalom to 1937 is challenged by a photograph from a 1927 exhibition, where the work in question can be identified. Upon correcting the similarly incorrect dating of the Ženski Polakt z Zlato Verižico (Female Half Nude with Golden Chain), which was also called Talisman, it is shown that compositions with mirrors entered Sternen’s opus only around 1920. These days, the motif of a woman before a mirror is, in Central European art, somewhat hackneyed. It was common for Sternen to look back a decade or more for inspiration. The portrayal of the young woman in the picture is more vivid than most of Sternen’s many female subjects. The repetition of material suggestiveness, of visual performance, of displaying the skill of optical evocation in reiterations no longer seems to be an actual factor in the motivation for painting. “[…] the artistic component is self-evident, already given a priori, so it is only the expression of an idea […],” wrote the painter in one of his sketchbooks. This at least a decade and a half younger statement, given the fact that the the painter was past the apex of his career, must stand. If it was really about expressing an idea, where should it be sought? A series of full-sized paintings, from Jakopič’s Deklica s Krono (Girl with a Crown) through the obvious Gratulantka (The Congratulant) to the V Spreminjasti Židi (In Iridescent Silk), can be seen as an expression of national romanticism, which in Sternen’s understated stylization more than in Vurnik’s realistic persistence indicates the discreet symbolism of national identity and the historical importance of the time. Sternen’s group of associates rather believed that “our cultural work” should take priority. He taught at the polytechnic school alongside Ivan Vurnik and Jože Plečnik, and also served on the board at the National Gallery.