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Fantastic Heads

Bartholomeus Breenbergh

1638

ink

paper

From the collection of National Gallery of Art

Baroque Baroque Allegory

Dominant colour

Fantastic Heads is a 1638 ink by Bartholomeus Breenbergh, a Baroque work, held at National Gallery of Art.

Who painted this?: Bartholomeus Breenbergh
When & what style?: 1638 · Baroque
Where can I see it?: National Gallery of Art

About this work

This print shows three strange, shadowy faces mixed into a tangle of trees and vines. The lines are dark and swirly, like someone pressed hard with a pen. Light spots peek through the branches, but the faces stay blurry and ghost-like. The artist packed a lot into a small space—faces, plants, and weird shapes all mashed together. This kind of mixed-up, dreamy look was common in the 1600s. If you like this, look up etching to see how artists made prints like this.