Sheet of Grotesque Heads and Profile Studies
A broadly grinning caricature man beside smaller profile and nose studies
A single sheet in reddish-brown ink is crowded with studies of exaggerated human profiles. At the right a large bald man is shown laughing, his wide mouth open, cheeks and neck heavily furrowed, and his shoulders sketched below in loose lines. Scattered across the left half are smaller heads and fragments: a downturned grotesque profile, sharp pointed noses and jutting chins, and a lightly drawn face near the lower left. The Biblioteca Ambrosiana collector's stamp appears at the lower right.
On this page
Laughing grotesque man
The dominant figure at the right is a bald man caught mid-laugh, his mouth thrown wide open and his cheeks, jowls and neck rendered in dense hatching. The exaggerated, aged features make it a caricature rather than a portrait. His torso is indicated below with a few outline strokes.
Smaller profile and nose studies
The left half of the sheet is filled with smaller trial heads and features: a downturned grotesque profile near the centre, several sharply pointed noses and chins drawn in outline, and a faint face at the lower left. They read as quick studies of exaggerated profile types worked around the larger head.