# Grotesque Heads \(recto\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MICHELANGELO Buonarroti]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Red chalk, 260 x 410 mm ## Commentary On the recto of this sheet is a group of grotesque figures, including two faun-like creatures, one looking fierce, the other bad-tempered. A third hideous face is sticking out his tongue in a mocking smile, and at the far right stands an elderly man with a hooked nose. In front of this assembly of bizarre creatures are a young man with his eyes pointed upward and a somewhat obese male in profile. The head of a startled figure is attached to him, eyes wide open and sucking on his nipple. These caricatures reveal parallels to the grotesque sculpted masks on the capitals, the surrounding frieze, and the <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/m/michelan/1sculptu/medici/1giulia31.html'\)" href="/html/m/michelan/1sculptu/medici/1giulia31.html">back of Giuliano de' Medici's breastplate</a> in the Medici Chapel. They are not, however, immediate drafts for them. These studies show the influence of <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/l/leonardo/08heads/055heads.html'\)" href="/html/l/leonardo/08heads/055heads.html">Leonardo's physiognomy studies.</a> On the verso of the sheet, studies of the head of a woman and a child, an ear, and a leg are visible. ## Related artworks - [A Man Lifting a Boar onto his Shoulder \(verso\)]() - [Abraham - Isaac - Jacob - Judah]() - [Achim - Eliud \(detail\)]() - [Achim - Eliud \(detail\)]() - [Achim - Eliud]() - [Aeneas with a Boy \(recto\)]() - [Allegorical figure]() - [Amminadab \(detail\)]() - [Amminadab \(detail\)]() - [Amminadab]() - [Ancestors of Christ: figures \(detail\)]() - [Ancestors of Christ: figures \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()