← Giovanni Francesco Melzi

A Grotesque Couple: Old Woman with an Elaborate Headdress and Old Man with Large Ears and Lacking a Chin

Original title: A Grotesque Couple: Old Woman with an Elaborate Headdress and Old Man with Large Ears and Lacking a Chin

Artist

Giovanni Francesco Melzi

Date

1491/93–1570

Medium

Pen and brown ink

Dimensions

2-1/8 x 3-7/8 in. (5.4 x 9.9 cm)

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Edward Fowles, in memory of Edward Fowles, 1975

kurzbeschreibung

Giovanni Francesco Melzi (1491/93–1570) drew two old people facing each other in profile on this sheet. The pen drawing in brown ink belongs to the grotesque tradition of the Renaissance.

Description

On the left, an old woman appears wearing an elaborately decorated, ornate headdress; her features are worked with wrinkles and look sullen or withdrawn. Opposite her on the right stands an old man with strikingly large ears and a receding chin, whose expression is tired and pensive. The garments of both figures remain plain and scantily indicated. They occupy the two halves of a spare layout; black and brown tones predominate, while the background stays undefined and draws the eye entirely to the heads.

Context

Melzi was one of Leonardo da Vinci's pupils and took from him the drawn study of physiognomic extremes. Such grotesques arose in the circle of the Milanese Renaissance, often as studies or as a humorous engagement with aging. A precise date cannot be established, since Melzi's life spans 1491 to 1570; the sheet is usually placed in the first half of the 16th century. Today it belongs to the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is in the public domain.

Impact

What the sheet conveys is the precise and detailed capture of the faces, in which comedy and seriousness balance each other. Between the two old people something like a wordless dialogue arises, pointing the viewer to human transience.

Technique

The sheet is executed in pen and brown ink, a medium that allows the finest lines and gradations of shading. The stroke remains sketchy yet controlled, as is characteristic of Renaissance draughtsmanship. At only 5.4 x 9.9 cm, the format is small and suggests an intimate study.

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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)