# Character Head: A Hypocrite and a Slanderer

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c/character-head-a-hypocrite-and-a-slanderer-re6d8f337caa415>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [MESSERSCHMIDT, Franz Xaver](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/messerschmidt-franz-xaver-r08a0e3c6f6e53c>)
- Date: 1751-1800
- Technique: Tin cast, height 37 cm

## 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. The present head is one of the most introspective of Messerschmidt&#39;s busts. A balding, blocky man tucks in his chin, causing wrinkles to form in the flesh of his neck and chest. His brow is deeply furrowed, and creases of skin radiate symmetrically from his mouth and around his jowls.

## Related artworks

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