# Character Head: The Beaked

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-the-beaked-r9dc1065492fde1>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [MESSERSCHMIDT, Franz Xaver](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c>)
- Date: 1751-1800
- Technique: Alabaster, height 43 cm

## Commentary

For the Austrian sculptor Franz Xavier Messerschmidt, the facial distortions became his all-consuming subject. In his case they were artificially created for a specific purpose - to ward off the evil spirits who had haunted him since he recovered from a severe illness in 1774. He sought to arrange his grimaces into a scientific system which, believing it would benefit others in similar distress, he portrayed with great realism in sixty-four self-portrait busts.

## Related artworks

- [Busts](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/busts-r4af9cb5a49cd1e>)
- [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 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>)