{"id":104846,"date":"2020-12-04T10:59:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T09:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.artsupp.com\/the-character-heads-of-franz-xaver-messerschmidt\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T23:03:25","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T22:03:25","slug":"the-character-heads-of-franz-xaver-messerschmidt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.artsupp.com\/en\/the-character-heads-of-franz-xaver-messerschmidt\/","title":{"rendered":"The ‘Character Heads’ of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

The faces are contorted into exaggerated grimaces:<\/strong> one with a furrowed brow and raised chin, the other with narrowed eyes and a curled nose. At first glance, they might seem like the provocative work of a contemporary artist, but the inscription on the wall leaves no doubt: Franz Xaver Messerschmidt<\/strong> (1736-1783) is an 18th-century sculptor who lived and worked at the court of Maria Theresa of Austria. The two works, part of a series called \u201ccharacter heads\u201d<\/a><\/strong>, continue to evoke curiosity and questions among the public and art historians, and are the most important works in the Coronini collections<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Tormented Artist<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt<\/strong>, born in Bavaria in 1736 to a family of modest artisans, was one of the most fascinating sculptors of the Enlightenment. An artist with academic training, he gained considerable acclaim in Vienna for some original portraits created for Empress Maria Theresa and her court. After a study trip to Rome, he was among the first sculptors to break away from the sumptuous works of the Baroque tradition in favor of the more composed rhythms of Neoclassicism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Room of Messerschmidt<\/a><\/em> at Palazzo Coronini<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the height of his success, around 1770, Messerschmidt’s life was shaken by a profound personal crisis, possibly due to mental health issues, which led him to leave Vienna and move to Pressburg, now Bratislava. Here, while continuing to occasionally create commissioned portraits, he primarily dedicated himself to what are his most famous works, the \u201ccharacter heads\u201d<\/a>. According to contemporary witnesses, these portraits, characterized by expressions ranging from a firm classical impassivity to the most exaggerated and grotesque grimaces<\/em><\/strong>, served for Messerschmidt<\/a> as a means to keep at bay and exorcise the demons he felt were haunting him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sideshow Phenomenon<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After Messerschmidt’s death at the age of only forty-six in 1783, the \u201ccharacter heads\u201d<\/a>, some made by casting in a tin-lead alloy and others in alabaster, were inherited by his brother Johann Adam<\/strong><\/em>. Some were sold individually, but a group of 49 heads was sold in bulk to a single buyer, and for over a century these works were exhibited multiple times for the entertainment of the public as a sideshow phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Rediscovery<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 1889, the collection was dismantled and the 49 heads<\/strong> were sold at auction separately. About ten were purchased by urban planner Camillo Sitte as teaching material for the Staatsgewerbeschule<\/em> (State School of Applied Arts) of which he was director, while two others entered the collection of Emil Zuckerkandl and his wife Berta, whose salon was later frequented by some key figures of the Vienna Secession, such as painter Gustav Klimt and architect Josef Hoffmann. It was during these years that the artistic and critical reevaluation of Messerschmidt’s work began. On one hand, avant-garde movements, from the Secession to Expressionism, recognized its modernity and profound innovative charge; on the other hand, new theories of psychoanalysis sought to shed light on the creative processes of the sculptor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n