In the last years of his life, German sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt created a series of busts depicting a wide range of emotions, from petulance (see The Vexed Man) to amusement (An Intentional Wag) to shame (A Hypocrite and a Slanderer). Cast in tin alloy or alabaster, the life-size Character Heads are striking to behold, their expressions as exaggerated as the titles bestowed upon them after their maker’s death in 1783: The Incapable Bassoonist, Just Rescued From Drowning, Afflicted With Constipation.
