Grotesque Head of an Old Woman

1489/1490

Leonardo da Vinci

Associated Names
Leonardo da Vinci

Artist, Florentine, 1452 - 1519

This drawing shows a profile of a woman's head and upper torso, facing the right. The woman appears old, with wrinkly skin and white hair gathered into a bun. She has a wrinkled, sloping brow, a pointed, upturned nose, and thin, downturned lips. She has a hunch in her back, and the skin on her neck sags. She wears a low-cut, off-the-shoulder garment that appears to have laces in the front. A flower appears to be stuck between her breasts. The background is plain, off-white paper within a rectangular gold border.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and brown ink on laid paper; laid down

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Dian Woodner

  • Dimensions

    overall: 6.4 x 5.1 cm (2 1/2 x 2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2022.84.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel [1586-1646]; Nicolaes Anthoni Flinck [1646-1723] (Lugt 959), Rotterdam; William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire [1672-1739]; then by descent, Chatsworth (inv. no. 820b) (sale, London, Christie's, 3 July 1984, lot 23); purchased by Ian Woodner, New York; by inheritance to his daughters, Andrea and Dian Woodner, New York, 1990.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1985

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, 1985, no. 77 (checklist only).

1986

  • Meisterzeichnungen aus Sechs Jahrhunderten: Die Sammlung Ian Woodner, Haus der Kunst, Munich and Vienna, 1986, no. 6.

  • Dibujos de los siglos XIV al XX: Colección Woodner, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1986-87, no. 7.

1987

  • Master Drawings: The Woodner Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1987, no. 6.

1988

  • The Sforza Court: Milan in the Renaissance 1450-1535, Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin and tour, 1988-89, checklist only.

1990

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, no. 8.

1995

  • The Touch of the Artist: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995-1996, no. 11.

1997

  • Leonardo Lives: The Codex Leicester and Leonardo da Vinci's Legacy of Art and Science, Seattle Art Museum, 1997, no. 22.

2003

  • "Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman", The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2003, no. 72.

2006

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2006- 2007.

2010

  • Arcimboldo, 1526-1593: Nature and Fantasy, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2010-2011, brochure no. 21, fig. 10 (shown only in Washington).

Bibliography

1939

  • Venturi, Adolfo. "I manoscritti ed i disegni di Leonardo da Vinci." Commissione Vinciana. vol. V, 1939, no. 212.

1950

  • Popham, A.E. and Philip Pouncey. Italian Drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. London, 1950: 72-3, pl. 119.

1958

  • Scott-Elliot, A.H. "Caricature Heads after Leonardo da Vinci in the Spencer Collection."_Bulletin of the New York Public Library_62, no. 6 (June 1958): 293.

1976

  • Gombrich, E.H. "Leonardo's Method of Analysis and Permutation: the Grotesque Heads." The Heritage of Apelles. London, 1976: 67, fig. 152.

  • Gombrich, E.H._The Heritage of Apelles: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance._Phaidon, 1967, 67 and fig. 152.

1984

  • _Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth_Christie's London, July 1984, lot. no. 23.

1985

  • Stock, Julien, ed._Il valore dei disegni antichi: L'analsi critica, storica ed economica_Turin, 1985, 119, ill.

1990

  • Caroli, Flavio. Leonardo: Studi di fisiognomica. Milan, 1990: 159, fig. 16.

1993

  • Pedrett, Carlo and Trutty-Coohill, Patricia._The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and His Circle in America_Florence, 1993: no. 11, 9, 15, 45-6, 69, 93, 103, fig. 11r and v.

1994

  • Jaffé, Michael. The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings. 4 Vols. London, 1994: IV: Venetian and North Italian Schools, no. 883.

1995

  • The Touch of the Artist: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995-1996: no. 11.

  • Annesley, Noël. "Ian Woodner." Drawing 17 (September-October 1995): 54.

1998

  • Trutty-Coohill, Patricia. "Comic Rhythms in Leonardo da Vinci." in _Analecta Husserliana_A.T. Tymieniecka, ed. vol. LVI, 1998: 193-5, ill.

2019

  • Bambach, Carmen._Leonardo da Vinci Rediscovered_vol. I, 62-3, 460, 464, 465_vol. III, 529_vol. IV, 68, n. 451, 452 _New Haven and London, 2019.

2022

  • Velie, Elaine. "How Leonardo's 'Monstrous' Drawings Inspired Modern Caricature."_Hyperallegic_November 21, 2022.

2024

  • Capron, Emma. "Catalogue Entry: An Old Woman ('The Ugly Duchess')_Online Entries for Individual Paintings_London: The National Gallery, 2024: np.

  • Kwakkelstein, Michael. "Leonardo da Vinci's Drawings of Busts of Old Men and Women with Monstruous Faces: Satire as Moral Criticism."_Grotesque and Caricature_ed. by Lucia Tantardini and Rebecca Norris_Leiden and Boston, 2024: 32.

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