Harman Patil (Editor)

The Simpleton (Messerschmidt)

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Year
  
1777 - 1783

Artist
  
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

Medium
  
alabaster

Created
  
1783

The Simpleton (Messerschmidt)

Dimensions
  
43 cm × 23 cm × 32 cm (17 in × 9.1 in × 13 in)

Location
  
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna

Similar
  
Male Back With a Flag, Wing of a European Roller, Avond (Evening): The Red, Virgin and Child with Canon va, Christ Carrying the Cross

The Simpleton (German: Der Schaafkopf) is a sculpture bust by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, one of the Character Heads.

Contents

Description

The sculptures dimensions are 43 × 23 × 32 centimeters. It is in the collection of the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, in Vienna.

Analysis

The bust is one 64 "canonical grimaces" of the human face using himself as a model.

In 1781, German author Friedrich Nicolai visited Messerschmidt at his studio in Pressburg and subsequently published a transcript of their conversation. It appears that for many years Messerschmidt had been suffering from an undiagnosed digestive complaint, now believed to be Crohn's disease, which caused him considerable discomfort. In order to focus his thoughts away from his condition, Messerschmidt devised a series of pinches he administered to his right lower rib. Observing the resulting facial expressions in a mirror, Messerschmidt then set about recording them in marble and bronze.

References

The Simpleton (Messerschmidt) Wikipedia