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Five Grotesque Heads
Gaetano Gandolfi1750–1800
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
From an early age, Gaetano Gandolfi was admired for his drawings, many of which were created as independent works of art and avidly collected by Italian and British patrons. This drawing is one of Gandolfi’s so-called teste pittoriche, or pictorial heads. Devised by the artist in the 1770s, this genre is based on contemporary academic theories that proposed that human emotions could be scientifically classified by facial expressions.
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Details
- Title: Five Grotesque Heads
- Creator: Gaetano Gandolfi (Italian, 1734-1802)
- Date Created: 1750–1800
- Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 29.5 x 20.2 cm (11 5/8 x 7 15/16 in.)
- Provenance: [R. E. Lewis, Inc.] (according to departmental card)
- Type: Drawing
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.277
- Medium: pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash over black chalk
- Inscriptions: verso, upper left, in graphite: [9?], lower left, in graphite: 91127, lower right, in graphite(?): 6 -
- Fun Fact: The term "grotesque" derives from the Italian word "grotteschi," which refers to the grottoes found in ancient Roman houses that were rediscovered around 1500.
- Department: Drawings
- Culture: Italy, 18th century
- Credit Line: Gift of Frederick M. Mayer
- Collection: DR - Italian
- Accession Number: 1969.277
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