Two Merovingian Heads
Medium
Lithograph in black on ivory wove paper, tipped onto buff laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 17 × 26.7 cm (6 3/4 × 10 9/16 in.); Primary support: 21 × 27 cm (8 5/16 × 10 11/16 in.); Secondary support: 26.3 × 32.2 cm (10 3/8 × 12 11/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
39653
Art Historical Context
In the Prints and Drawings collection at the Art Institute of Chicago,Two Merovingian Heads (1817) by French printmaker Auguste Gaspard Louisoucher Desnoyers captures intrigue of early medieval history. Desnoyers, a skilled engraver active during the Napoleonic era, depicts a pair of stern, bearded faces evoking the Merovingian—the Frankish rulers of 5th- to 8th-century Gaul who shaped the foundations of modern France. Created amid Romanticism's fascination with the past, this work reflects a growing 19th-century curiosity about national origins and barbarian-era artistry. Printed as a lithog...