Two Grotesque Heads

Two Grotesque Heads

Anonymous, Netherlandish, 17th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Seemingly in an animated conversation, these figures alternately fascinate and repel us, while also begging us for empathy. The decrepit man wears a monk’s habit, and the ugly woman’s old-fashioned, eccentric costume seductively bares her bosom. This print, formerly attributed to Wenceslaus Hollar, was executed in a much larger scale than the original drawings of grotesque figures by Leonardo. In contrast, when making his copies, Hollar usually respected the scale of motifs in Leonardo’s drawings.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.