The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 27, 2023

Five Grotesque Heads

1750–1800

Gaetano Gandolfi

(Italian, 1734–1802)

Italy, 18th century

Pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash over black chalk

Support: Cream(3) laid paper

Sheet: 29.5 x 20.2 cm (11 5/8 x 7 15/16 in.)

Gift of Frederick M. Mayer 1969.277

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The term "grotesque" derives from the Italian word "grotteschi," which refers to the grottoes found in ancient Roman houses that were rediscovered around 1500.

Description

From an early age, Gaetano Gandolfi was admired for his drawings, many of which were created as independent works of art and avidly collected by Italian and British patrons. This drawing is one of Gandolfi’s so-called teste pittoriche, or pictorial heads. Devised by the artist in the 1770s, this genre is based on contemporary academic theories that proposed that human emotions could be scientifically classified by facial expressions.

Inscriptions

Inscription

verso, upper left, in graphite: [9?]

Inscription

lower left, in graphite: 91127

Inscription

lower right, in graphite(?): 6 -

Provenance
[R. E. Lewis, Inc.] (according to departmental card)
Exhibition history

CMA, Graphic Humor (June 1-Aug. 29, 1982).
CMA, Eighteenth-Century Master Drawings from the Collection (Oct. 6-Nov. 22, 1981).
CMA, Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions (Oct. 21, 1980-Feb. 15, 1981).
CMA, "Year in Review for 1970" (Feb. 10-Mar. 7, 1971), cma Bulletin 58 (1971), p. 67 no. 78.

[did not find a registrarial file for this one, Apr. 1996]-?

Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971).

Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 1980-February 15, 1981).

18th Century Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 6-November 22, 1981).

Graphic Humor. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 1-August 29, 1982).

Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1969.277