Artwork Page for Head of Caracalla

Details / Information for Head of Caracalla

Head of Caracalla

c. 1768

Jean-Baptiste Greuze

(French, 1725–1805)
Culture
France, 18th century
Medium
Red chalk on cream laid paper
Support
Cream(3) laid paper, perimeter mounted to a false margin of cream(2) board
Measurements
Sheet: 38.8 x 30.3 cm (15 1/4 x 11 15/16 in.); Secondary Support: 45.6 x 37.1 cm (17 15/16 x 14 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1999.48
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

As part of their training in the late 18th century, French artists practiced drawing têtes d'expression, or expressive heads, that display subtleties of human emotion. Greuze made this chalk study in preparation for a painting in which the Roman emperor Septimius Severus rebukes his notoriously ruthless son, Caracalla, for attempting to assassinate him. Although Greuze based this face for the figure of Caracalla on a Roman portrait bust, he imaginatively adapted the facial expression to dramatize Caracalla’s resentment and humiliation during the confrontation.

Head of Caracalla

c. 1768

Jean-Baptiste Greuze

(French, 1725–1805)
France, 18th century

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