Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. This book talks about the narratives the authors use to assign meaning to artworks, or the structures of art-historical interpretation. Messerschmidt is a fascinating case study for meaning-making since the Character Heads are so semantically slippery. The book explains Messerschmidt's sculptures through paradigms based in contextual interpretations. It examines the relationship between Messerschmidt's sculptures and the theories of animal magnetism propounded by Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer and Messerschmidt have long been associated with each other, and indeed it can be documented that Messerschmidt fulfilled at least two commissions for Mesmer. The book examines Messerschmidt's relationship to eighteenth-century physiognomic theory. After a brief study trip to Rome in 1765, Messerschmidt developed a successful career in Vienna and attracted commissions increasingly from the city's Enlightenment-oriented intellectual class.