Two Deformed Heads Facing Inwards
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 3 1/2 × 5 3/16 in. (8.9 × 13.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Barbara E. Fox, from the Collection of Howard A. Fox, MD, and Barbara E. Fox, 2022
Accession Number
2022.131.5
Art Historical Context
Behold *Two Deformed Heads Facing Inwards*, a captivating etching from around 1645 that bridges the Renaissance genius of Leonardo da Vinci the masterful reproductive printmaking of Wenceslaus Hollar. Da Vinci, renowned for his anatomical studies and fascination with the grotesque, likely sketched these introspective, distorted heads as part of his explorations into human expression, physiognomy, and the extremes of form—echoing his notebooks filled with monstrous caricatures meant to evoke emotion and test artistic boundaries. Hollar, a Bohemian etcher active in 17th-century England, faithfu...
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...