Studieblad met twaalf hoofden 1776 - 1815

Marie Lambertine Coclers created this study sheet with twelve heads using etching techniques. The composition immediately strikes one as a collection of faces, each rendered with a delicate yet precise network of lines. Notice how the artist masterfully uses hatching and cross-hatching to define the contours of the faces, giving them volume and depth. The texture created by the etched lines adds a tactile quality, inviting us to explore the nuances of each expression. Coclers’s study sheet invites a semiotic reading; a focus on physiognomy and phrenology in the 18th century—the study of facial features and skull shapes—was used to reveal an individual’s character or intellect. The varied head coverings serve not only as a representation of everyday life but also as signifiers of social roles and identities. The study sheet exists within a field of art concerned with the ephemeral and the transient, capturing the likeness of people and everyday life in a fixed form.