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The Vexed Man
Replica based on the Original made of alabaster from Franz
Xaver Messerschmidt
(Germany, after 1770)
Today: J. Paul Getty
Museum
Material: Resin
hand made and hand painted
Height: 20 cm
The Vexed Man is one of a series of portait busts or 'character heads' made
by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, an eighteenth-century German sculptor active in
Austria. This bust portrays a middle-aged man with a sour expression, which
seems to fall somewhere between a grimace and a scowl. The most telling aspect
may be the furrowed brow above squinting eyes and a scrunched nose. But natural
cracks in the bust's alabaster surface seem to echo the topography of his skin,
both softened by age yet hardened by the extreme expression, The man's receding
hairline, wrinkles and sagging jawline contrast with tensed cheek and neck
muscles. Although the character seems to express irritation and annoyance, it is
not certain whether Messerschmidt intended that interpretation, because he did
not give the bust a title.
This bust ad the series it belongs to reflect
the intellectual concerncs of artists and scholars during the Enlightenment era,
when a surge of interest in the sciences occured. Studies in physiognomy were
highly at the time. Perhaps as influential was Messerschmidt's undiagnosed
mental condition, which could have been schizophrenia. A contemprary wrote that
Messerschmidt told him that by making the character heads, he hoped to ward away
spirits that invaded his mind.
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