User:Primaler/WikiBlog/2016/04/22/character-heads-by-franz-xaver-messerschmidt

Character heads by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

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I've recently reorganized and updated the Commons category for the famous "character heads" by the Austrian sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736–1783).

At the moment, we have images for 19 out of the 49 heads known to survive.

The rest can be seen in the 2015 catalogue raisonné by Maria Pötzl-Malikova.

Gallery

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  No. 1: The Artist as He Imagined Himself Laughing
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  No. 5: The Yawner
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  No. 9: The Ultimate Simpleton
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  No. 15: A Haggard Old Man with Aching Eyes
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  No. 17: The Simpleton
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  No. 19: A Grievously Wounded Man
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  No. 20: The Enraged and Vengeful Gypsy
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  No. 23: The Strong Odor
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  No. 24: Weepy Old Man
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  No. 26: The Satirist
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  No. 28: The Incapable Bassoonist
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  No. 29: Just Rescued from Drowning
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  No. 30: Afflicted with Constipation
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  No. 33: An Arch-Rascal
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  No. 34: A Dismal and Sinister Man
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  No. 37: An Intentional Wag
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  No. 38: A Surly Old Soldier
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  No. 39: A Hypocrite and Slanderer
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  No. 44: The Laughter Kept Back

Images by: Jssfrk, Yelkrokoyade, CSvBibra, DALIBRI, Herb (daHöab), Bubamara, Anagoria, AndreasPraefcke, FA2010, Gryffindor.

Cheers, guys!

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Unfortunately, I was only able to locate one of the 45 photographs of the heads published in 1906 and 1909 by the Viennese photographer Josef Wlha (1842–1918). These images are definitely in public domain by now and would cover most of the remaining lacunas (heads Nos. 4, 31, 41, 49 are not part of the portfolio). Perhaps, someone will have better luck with this, so here are the references:

• Josef Wlha (1906) Franz Xaver Messerschmidt: Charakterköpfe
• Josef Wlha and Ludwig Hevesi (1909) Franz Xaver Messerschmidt's Werke