Head of a man with protruding chin and snub nose looking upwards in profile to left
Medium
Etching; only state
Dimensions
Plate: 2 7/16 × 2 1/16 in. (6.2 × 5.2 cm) Sheet: 2 1/2 × 2 1/16 in. (6.4 × 5.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.18-259
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate etching, titled *Head of a Man withtruding Chin and Sn Nose Looking Upwards in Profile to Left*, the keen observation of Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, faithfully reproduced by 17th-century Bohemiancher Wenceslaus Hol between 1644 and 1752. Measuring just over 2 inches, it depicts a rugged male profile gazing upward, showcasing Leonardo's fascination with human anatomy and expressive physiognomy. Hollar, renowned for his meticulous reproductions of Old Master drawings, rendered this as a single-state etching—the only edition—preserving Leonardo's original silverpoint or me...
About the Artist
Leonardo da Vinci|Wenceslaus Hollar · 1452–1519
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) stands as the quintessential Renaissance polymath, whose genius spanned painting, sculpture, architecture, science, mathematics, engineering, anatomy, geology, cartography, botany, and writing. Born in Vinci, Italy, as the illegitimate son of a notary, Leonardo received limited formal education but demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent from an early age. His appr...