Entry by
Austeja Mackelaite,
completed April 03, 2018:
Because of the false monogram “HG” inserted in the lower right side of the sheet, this study has long been associated with Hendrick Goltzius. Although some artists in Goltzius’s circle—most notably, Jacques de Gheyn II—produced accomplished anatomical studies, the weak draftsmanship of this sheet bears no resemblance to the work of Goltzius or other artists in his school, and therefore the attribution is not supported.
The drawing depicts a dissected head. The strong three-dimensionality of the model and the lack of idealization in describing its features suggest that the study was done after an actual dissection or a dry anatomical specimen. Certain characteristics, like retracted lips, are commonly found in surviving dry specimens from the early modern period, lending further support to this idea. The careful rendition of eyes and eyelashes animate the model in accordance with the conventions of anatomical illustration, which, since the Renaissance, encouraged imbuing the dissected body with life. These features thus might not have been observed from life but invented by the artist.
Although the lack of comparative drawn examples makes it difficult to date the sheet, this anatomical study probably originated in the 18th century, when the production of three-dimensional anatomical models became relatively widespread, and the technique of graphite on vellum was still in common use.
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