Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, an eighteenth-century German sculptor active in Austria, is best known for his series of dramatic “character heads.”The metal and stone busts are often disturbing in their extreme expressions.They have long prompted critics and scholars to speculate that the artist made them in reaction to an undiagnosed mental illness.Messerschmidt enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1754 and soon received important commissions from the Habsburg empress Maria Theresa and her consort, Francis Stephen of Lorraine.His circumstances changed dramatically around 1770 when he began to manifest signs of mental instability, leading to the loss of prestigious commissions and to conflicts with colleagues and friends.Messerschmidt likely began his “character heads” around 1770, as his mental health apparently deteriorated.He produced the life-sized busts rapidly, 69 within a 13-year period. He may have intended them as physiognomic studies, perhaps inspired by experiments enacted by his friend, the controversial physician Franz Anton Mesmer.Over the years, historians and medical professionals speculated on the nature of Messerschmidt’s alleged disease.The most popular answer was schizophrenia, which would explain his violent outbursts and hallucinations.Moreover, some psychiatrists believe that the contortions of Messerschmidt’s Character Heads were typical for a neurological condition called dystonia.

More of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt’s impressive sculptures can be found at https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/messerschmidt/character.html and https://www.thecollector.com/franz-xaver-messerschmidt-heads/.