Bust of woman with wide-open mouth and long curly hair falling over her shoulders, wearing low-cut dress with ribbon round her waist, in profile to left
Medium
Etching;only state
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 5/8 × 1 13/16 in. (6.6 × 4.6 cm) cut within platemark
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.18-264
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate etching, titled *Bust of Woman with Wide-Open Mouth Long Curly Hair*, captures a striking profile portrait attributed to Leonardo da Vinci as the original design, faithfully reproduced by the masterful Bohemian etcher Wenceslaus Hollar in1665. The woman gazes leftward, her mouth agape in an expressive gesture—perhaps mid-song or exclamation—framed by cascading curls tumbling over her shoulders and a low-cut dress cinched with a ribbon at the waist. Measuring just 2⅝ × 1⅞ inches, this intimate "only state" print exemplifies the precision of 17th-century reproductive engraving. Ho...
About the Artist
Leonardo da Vinci|Wenceslaus Hollar · 1452–1519
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) stands as the quintessential Renaissance polymath, whose genius spanned painting, sculpture, architecture, science, mathematics, engineering, anatomy, geology, cartography, botany, and writing. Born in Vinci, Italy, as the illegitimate son of a notary, Leonardo received limited formal education but demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent from an early age. His appr...