18th century, East Asia, gallery, historical figure, Japan, painting, primary source
This is a personal favourite among many depictions available of Dongfang Shuo 東方朔 (c. 160 – c. 93 BCE), although it was created nearly 2,000 years after he lived. By an 18th-19th century Japanese artist, Torei Hijikata 土方稲嶺 (1741-1807), it conveys the energy...
16th century, bibliography, Europe, French, journal paper, Netherlands, research, Spain
Cécile Beuzelin’s paper presents two 16th century double portraits, one by Antonis Mor (1519-75) and one anonymous (but previously attributed to Frans Floris). Both feature the dwarf Estanilao who served Cardinal Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (1517-86), a...
16th century, Europe, gallery, historical figure, Netherlands, painting, portrait, primary source
This is one of two double portraits featuring Estanilao, a dwarf who served in the household of Cardinal Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (1517-86), a leading light in Hapsburg Europe. In this painting, the dwarf appears behind and beside what seems to be a...
16th century, Europe, gallery, historical figure, Netherlands, painting, portrait, primary source, Spain
Europe stands out for the range and number of representations of fools and dwarfs in art, particularly during the late Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. There seems to have been an enduring fascination for both minds and bodies differently cast; dwarfs were...
15th century, 16th century, bibliography, Europe, historical figure, Italy, journal paper, research
This richly illustrated paper looks at dwarfs in Italian Renaissance art, shining a light on complex and even contradictory attitudes to physical and mental alterity, with a certain revulsion at deformity existing in conjunction with an admiration for nature’s...
19th century, gallery, primary source, Russia, Russian
The skomorokh is a Russian term which spans entertainers, musicians, buffoons, jesters, harlequins, minstrels or actors. This is a 19th century depiction of a skomorokh and his costume by Apollinary Vasnetsov (1856-1933). It isn’t clear if it is a portrait of...
18th century, gallery, India, primary source
A curious drawing, from the late 18th century, of a named dwarf dancing in the presence of a pair of Indian soldiers (‘sepoys’ in the title of the sketch). I stumbled across this in the same search that yielded a 17th century Dutch painting of a dancing...
18th century, gallery, India, primary source
This sketch of an individual, done by an Anglo-Indian artist around 1790, has the intriguing title of ‘A fool named Gungarum’. At first I wondered if it was a portrait of a recognised or quasi-professional fool, but noting the similarity between the...
