Two deformed heads facing inwards
Medium
Etching; second state of two
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 4 1/8 in. (7 × 10.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.18-207
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate etching, *Two Deformed Heads Facing Inwards captures the Renaissance master's fascination with human anatomy and the grotesque. Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci in its original conception and masterfully reproduced by Wences Hollar in 1645, it depicts two introspective profiles—one male, one female—tilted inward in a poignant, almost intimate encounter. Leonardo's studies of distorted heads, often drawn from life or imagination, explored the boundaries of beauty and deformity, reflecting his scientific curiosity during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Hollar, a Bohemian et...
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...