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Bust of a Man

1522
Not on view
This expressive drawing by Wolfgang Huber, one of the greatest painters of the Danube school, is part of a group of nine head studies in the same medium and technique, all initialed and dated 1522. These sheets offer penetrating essays on physiognomy, obscuring the boundaries between observation and imagination, and may have evolved from Huber's study of Leonardo's work. The drawing exhibited here was preparatory for the head of a young Roman soldier in the left background of the "Raising of the Cross" (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), a composition densely packed with the faces of onlookers of richly varied characterization. In the drawing, the slightly foreshortened, three-quarter view of the young man's head accentuates the heroic anxiety of his features. Huber's bold use of the drawing medium—chalk and wash—differs significantly from that of his other drawings and that of his northern contemporaries. It may have been a response to contemporary north Italian techniques.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Bust of a Man
  • Artist: Wolfgang Huber (German, Feldkirch/Vorarlberg ca. 1485/90–1553 Passau)
  • Date: 1522
  • Medium: Black and white chalk on off-white paper prepared with red gouache
  • Dimensions: Overall: 11 9/16 x 7 7/8 in. (29.4 x 20 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1950
  • Object Number: 50.202
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Christ Carrying the Cross, Wolfgang Huber German, Pen and brown ink
Christ Carrying the Cross
Wolfgang Huber
16th century
Cottages in a Rocky Landscape, Wolfgang Huber German, Pen and black ink
Cottages in a Rocky Landscape
Wolfgang Huber
16th century
Saint Christopher
Wolfgang Huber
n.d.
Head of a Bearded Old Man, Wolfgang Huber German, Black chalk. Tacked down to paper mount.
Head of a Bearded Old Man
Multiple artists/makers
1520s
Music-Making Angels, Albrecht Dürer German, Pen and brown ink
Music-Making Angels
Albrecht Dürer
1521

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