An allegory of gluttony

The artist of this intriguing panel took inspiration from a lost drawing of a grotesque head by Leonardo da Vinci, known today through an anonymous copy in the British Museum (fig. 1). Notably, Leonardo’s prototype is here reversed, perhaps intentionally to demonstrate the present painter’s artistic skill. The inclusion of the wooden spoon allows the painting to be read as an allegory of gluttony, following an artistic tradition popularized in the 16th century by Netherlandish artists such as Quentin Metsys and Jan Massys. Grotesques are generally believed to have been taken up by Leonardo after his move to Milan to work at the court of Ludovico Sforza, il Moro, in the 1480s. While the court may have employed people with facial disfigurements for the courtiers’ entertainment, in much the same spirit as dwarfs were engaged, Leonardo’s interest was more complex. Although he did not believe in physiognomy as a reliable indicator of character, he did believe that a person’s innate goodness or wickedness left a trace on the face: hence his struggle to find an appropriately villainous face for his Judas in his Last Supper and the difficulties he also faced in finding a model to do justice to the serene beauty of Christ. His studies of grotesques grew from this same motivation, although he frequently pushed physiognomy beyond the bounds of realism in adjusting the prominence of forehead, nose, mouth, or chin as a playful experiment in characterization.