# Busts

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/busts-r4af9cb5a49cd1e>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [MESSERSCHMIDT, Franz Xaver](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c>)
- Date: 1751-1800
- Technique: Drawing

## Commentary

While fulfilling occasional commissions, Messerschmidt focused obsessively on a series of sculptures that he referred to as &#39;Kopfstücke&#39;, or &#39;head pieces.&#34; he completed no fewer than sixty-nine, and the sculptor appears to have held on to the heads throughout his life. Each of these works was unique, either cast in a soft tin alloy, which the artist favoured, or carved in local alabaster. This drawing of Messerschmidt&#39;s busts was made by Matthias Rudolph Thoma \(1792-1869\) in 1839.

## Related artworks

- [Character Head: A Hypocrite and a Slanderer](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-a-hypocrite-and-a-slanderer-re6d8f337caa415>)
- [Character Head: Ill Humoured Man](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-ill-humoured-man-rb795ad5e1ca7fe>)
- [Character Head: Incapable Bassoonist](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-incapable-bassoonist-rca1c291c1902e3>)
- [Character Head: The Arch-Evil](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-the-arch-evil-r91aa89024dbe69>)
- [Character Head: The Beaked](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-the-beaked-r81825b707bfe97>)
- [Character Head: The Beaked](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-the-beaked-r9dc1065492fde1>)
- [Character Head: The Gentle, Quiet Sleep](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-the-gentle-quiet-sleep-r21e07aaf51c372>)
- [Character Head: The Gentle, Quiet Sleep](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-the-gentle-quiet-sleep-r3f26454423204a>)
- [Character Head: The Hanged](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-the-hanged-re41998b9b56eb8>)
- [Character Head: The Lecher](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-the-lecher-r4a88cde06ba7f9>)
- [Elijah Increases the Oil of the Widow \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/elijah-increases-the-oil-of-the-widow-detail-r3f572ac08fb289>)
- [Elijah Increases the Oil of the Widow](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/elijah-increases-the-oil-of-the-widow-r23241cd3b73078>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)