Rare Antique Hand-Colored Print with Two Skulls

Antique anatomy print of the human skeleton. This print originates from 'De Ontleedkundige Plaaten van B. Eustachius' published by J.B. Elwe. ...

Antique anatomy print showing the skull / cranium. This print originates from 'Anatomie De L'Homme Ou Descriptions Et figures Lithographiees De Toutes Les Parties Du Corps Humain', b...

Skulls is a lot composed by two original drawings, Skull with hourglass and owl and Skull with Candle leaning on Book realized by Alessandro Dalla Nave. Skull with hourglass and owl...

Skulls is an etching realized by Thomas Holloway for Johann Caspar Lavater's "Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to Promote the Knowledge and the Love of Mankind", London, Bensley, 1810. Good conditions. Johann Caspar Lavater was a swiss theologian and philosopher known throughout Europe for his studies on physiognomy. Following the physiognomy tradition of Della Porta and of many Renaissance and Baroque philosophers, he believed that the character of a person could be elucidated through examining their “lines of countenance" i.e. tracing a profile outline portrait. Being able to "read outside" was the key to "know the inside". Lavater's thought largely influenced Art in the late 18th and early 19th century, as in the case of Johann Fuseli and William Blake (who realized two etchings for Lavater's English edition of his Essay). Lavater was convinced that he could show his theories by analyzing the portraits of some of the main historical figures of the past, in some cases taken from paintings or (mainly for antiquity...