Head of Bearded Old Man 1805

Jakob Matthias Schmutzer made this drawing, Head of a Bearded Old Man, in 1805. The work recalls the tradition of the “academic study” that dominated European art institutions at the time. These drawings were the currency of art academies. The academies taught young artists to draw by copying prints and plaster casts after antique sculptures. It was believed that through line and shading one could master classical form. Schmutzer, who was himself the director of the Vienna Academy, here depicts a subject that emulates those canonical forms, likely for the benefit of his students. This head is not a portrait of a living person but an exercise in idealization. The somewhat forbidding expression might even reflect the disciplinarian culture of these art schools. It is through understanding how the academies operated and the status they possessed in society that we can best appreciate this drawing and the social function that it played at the time. By consulting archival records, we are able to better interpret the social context of this drawing and understand its place in history.