German school; c. 1840.

German school; c. 1840.
"Greek profiles."
Graphite on paper.
They present faults.
Signed and dated.
Measurements: 44 x 28 cm.
This set is born of the neoclassical taste and the renewed interest in classical antiquity that marked much of European art in the first half of the nineteenth century. The work, probably conceived as an academic study, presents a series of idealized profiles inspired by Greek sculpture, where the purity of line and harmonious proportion are the main protagonists.
The composition focuses on formal clarity: the faces, depicted in profile, stand out for their clear and balanced contours. Straight noses, clear foreheads and defined chins respond to a canon of ideal beauty, more intellectual than naturalistic. These are not individual portraits, but archetypes, models of perfection that refer to a universal idea of beauty.