Preface and Acknowledgements
The concept of this volume originates from my doctoral research on the Brothers Luini. Whilst studying the grotesque heads attributed to Bernardino’s youngest son, Aurelio, I observed various discrepancies among the inscriptions on his drawings that called for further investigation.1 These were addressed in the article ‘On the Grotesque: Aurelio Luini and Leonardo’, in which I also sought to define Aurelio’s ‘Blenio heads’ as a distinct sub-genre within the realm of sixteenth-century experimentation with teste caricate.2 This, in turn, prompted further questions surrounding the drawings produced in the Accademia della Val di Blenio, especially those by Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo, which led to the multi-panel session ‘Grotesques and Caricatures in Renaissance and Early Modern Italy’ hosted at the Renaissance Society of America’s Annual Meeting in 2018. At that meeting, organised with the co-editor of the present volume, Rebecca Norris, I presented the paper “Lomazzo’s Grotesque Heads Revisited” which is expanded upon in the second chapter of the present volume.
The topic of grotesque heads was enthusiastically received and yielded such lively discussion that we decided to prepare a publication that included the papers presented at the meeting in New Orleans as well as additional essays. Collectively, these follow the development of grotesque and caricature imagery in Renaissance and early modern Italy. As Sandra Cheng states in the Introduction to this volume, studies embracing the overall evolution of grotesque heads and caricature as an autonomous genre remain relatively rare compared to those dedicated to individual artists who practised these artistic forms.3 Significantly, the present volume also helps clarifying the nuanced development of caricature as a distinct type from the related form of the grotesque.
Whilst maintaining Wittkower’s and Gombrich’s argument that Leonardo’s teste caricate represent an exceptional artistic phenomenon,4 an unicum in the history of physiognomical studies, it is undeniable that his pioneering experimentations injected fresh life into the genre of the grotesque, and greatly contributed to the development of caricature as an independent practice which would inspire generations of artists. Indeed, some of Leonardo’s drawings transcend physiognomic analysis unequivocally to ‘poke fun at individuals’, as noted by Mary Vaccaro.5 One clear example of this use is Leonardo’s Caricature of Dante.6 The legacy of Leonardo is especially evident in the work of his late sixteenth-century Milanese followers, such as Giovanni Ambrogio Brambilla, Lomazzo, and Aurelio Luini, who had direct access to the ample collection of Leonardo’s drawings owned by Francesco Melzi. But involved in the (re)generation of the genre, and probably aware of Leonardo’s experimentations, were also Michelangelo and Sebastiano del Piombo. The wide range of their artworks as well as, later, those by, for example, Annibale Carracci, Guercino, and Bernini reveal their profound interest in the physical, physiognomic, and psychological observation, with a strong penchant for humour and wit.
Lucia Tantardini
Preparing this volume has been a very rewarding experience and it is our great pleasure to acknowledge the contributors of this volume. The production of this book coincided with the unique obstacles presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, and we are acutely aware and most appreciative of the additional effort that each author invested in this project whilst navigating through challenging circumstances both personal and professional. At Brill, we are grateful to the steadfast Arjan van Dijk and Ivo Romein, and their keen editorial team led by Wilma de Weert, as well as the intellectual expertise of Walter Melion, editor of the Studies in Intellectual History series. Many thanks for their enthusiastic appreciation of the scholarly value of this project early on. We are also indebted to our anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions and positive comments about this volume. At Cambridge, warm thanks go to Stan Finney in the Department of History of Art and the staff of the Cambridge University Library. Finally, our heartfelt thanks extend to our colleagues Deborah Howard, Paul Joannides, and Alexander Marr for their continued friendship and support.
Rebecca Norris and Lucia Tantardini
Tantardini, The Brothers Luini.
Tantardini, ‘On the Grotesque,’ 215–24.
Cheng, Introduction,’ 7 (in this volume).
Gombrich and Kris, Caricature, 10.
Vaccaro, ‘Carracci’s Ritrattini Carichi’, 115 (in this volume).
This is also noted by Berra ‘Il ritratto,’ 75. As for Leonardo’s Caricature of Dante, this is known in various replicas from a lost original, such as those at Chatsworth (inv. 818a) or at the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.