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Head of Caracalla
About the Artwork
As part of their training in the late 18th century, French artists practiced drawing têtes d'expression, or expressive heads, that display subtleties of human emotion. Greuze made this chalk study in preparation for a painting in which the Roman emperor Septimius Severus rebukes his notoriously ruthless son, Caracalla, for attempting to assassinate him. Although Greuze based this face for the figure of Caracalla on a Roman portrait bust, he imaginatively adapted the facial expression to dramatize Caracalla’s resentment and humiliation during the confrontation.
Provenance
?-?: M. and Mme. Jules Porges, Paris ?-?: Comtesse Rosalie de Fitz-James [1862-1923], Paris ?-?: (William H. Schab Gallery, NY) 1956-?: Julian Raskin, Scarsdale, NY, by descent to his family ?-1999: (Spink-Leger Pictures, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1999-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). Greuze, The Draftsman. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (September 10-December 1, 2002). Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Jean-Baptiste Greuze (French, 1725–1805)
- Date
- c. 1768
- Medium
- Red chalk on cream laid paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 38.8 x 30.3 cm (15 1/4 x 11 15/16 in.); Secondary Support: 45.6 x 37.1 cm (17 15/16 x 14 5/8 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Accession no.
- 1999.48
More by Jean-Baptiste Greuze in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011366
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