Study of a Female Head, n. d.

Friedrich von Amerling (1803–1887), an important portrait painter of the Viennese Biedermeier, made several travels to Italy. His Study of a Female Head shows a handwritten note at the left top that speaks of a three-week stay in Rome. The note was put there in India ink, as was the drawing itself, while the date “1838” (the year of his stay in Rome) was presumably added later and in pencil. Amerling was interested in the profile of a girl looking to the right with her mouth opened, who he contoured her with a sharply drawn outline. He then used hatching to work out the sculptural qualities of the face, while leaving the rest of the head away. On the back of the sheet, another drawing of a female face can be found, only now it is depicted looking to the left in a three-quarter view. But it is only the front side that shows the portrait artist’s interest in the clear-cut contour that defines the first impression of a profile view.

MK, 2021