ARTWORKS

Sheet of Caricature Heads

Agostino Carracci (1557–1602)

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts

Sheet of Caricature Heads

Image credit: The Henry Barber Trust, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham

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This sheet of head studies can be viewed in the tradition of physiognomic studies began by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) when conducting anatomical investigations. However, rather than documenting realistic detail, Carracci has reduced his sketched heads to the bare essentials and lines. These range from the ideal to the grotesque. The Carracci studio in Bologna, Italy, is widely recognised as having been one of the originators of caricature in Western art in the mid-1580s.

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts

Birmingham

Title

Sheet of Caricature Heads

Date

1594

Medium

pen & brown ink on paper

Measurements

H 20.2 x W 28 cm

Accession number

2016.10

Acquisition method

purchased, 2016

Work type

Drawing & watercolour

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The Barber Institute of Fine Arts

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, West Midlands B15 2TS England

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Artist or maker

Agostino Carracci

1557–1602

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