Heads of a faun and a reclining woman (Les têtes d'une jeune femme et d'un faune)

Heads of a faun and a reclining woman (Les têtes d'une jeune femme et d'un faune)

Jacques Louis David

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This vibrant and enigmatic study of two heads was made in the 1790s, following the French revolution. A faun, swarthy and furtive, is drawn in dark and vigorous marks. Just behind him, and rendered in more delicate strokes, is the head of a sleeping woman, tilted back, her lips parted. David made such drawings throughout his life, especially in his late years, but their function is unclear. Are they memories, studies, or simply explorations of expression?

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Heads of a faun and a reclining woman (Les têtes d'une jeune femme et d'un faune)Heads of a faun and a reclining woman (Les têtes d'une jeune femme et d'un faune)Heads of a faun and a reclining woman (Les têtes d'une jeune femme et d'un faune)Heads of a faun and a reclining woman (Les têtes d'une jeune femme et d'un faune)Heads of a faun and a reclining woman (Les têtes d'une jeune femme et d'un faune)

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.