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1 of 253523 objects
The bust of a grotesque old woman c.1510-20
Red chalk | 17.2 x 14.3 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 912492
![912492 R.jpg 912492 R.jpg](https://col.rct.uk/sites/default/files/styles/rctr-scale-1300-500/public/collection-online/6/0/804208-1608570755.jpg?itok=ZMs-I_ga)
After Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
912492 R.jpg c.1510-20
![912492 V.jpg 912492 V.jpg](https://col.rct.uk/sites/default/files/styles/rctr-scale-1300-500/public/collection-online/0/e/804209-1533812004.jpg?itok=9xwvycJv)
After Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
912492 V.jpg c.1510-20
![](https://col.rct.uk/sites/default/files/styles/rctr-scale-1300-500/public/collection-online/6/0/804208-1608570755.jpg?itok=ZMs-I_ga)
![](https://col.rct.uk/sites/default/files/styles/rctr-scale-1300-500/public/collection-online/0/e/804209-1533812004.jpg?itok=9xwvycJv)
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A drawing of the head and shoulders of a hideous old woman, with a colossal mouth and upper lip. She wears a low-cut dress and an escoffion over a wimple.
The woman is an embodiment of foolish vanity, with a ridiculous contrast between her aged ugliness and her ostentatious headdress and tightly laced bodice. Leonardo's original is lost; this is a copy, probably by his pupil and heir Francesco Melzi, of one of the master's most enduring creations. A version was known to the Antwerp artist Quinten Massys, who incorporated her in several paintings, and one of the many replicas of the old woman was used by John Tenniel as the basis for the Ugly Duchess in his illustrations to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865.
Text adapted from Leonardo da Vinci: the Divine and the GrotesqueProvenance
Bequeathed to Francesco Melzi; from whose heirs purchased by Pompeo Leoni, c.1582-90; Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, by 1630; Probably acquired by Charles II; Royal Collection by 1690
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Red chalk
Measurements
17.2 x 14.3 cm (sheet of paper)
Object type(s)