ARTWORK OF THE MONTH

MONTAUTI'S 'BUST OF AN OLD GROTESQUE WOMAN' 

Not all art has to be about pretty pictures, writes Rhys Fullerton. Sometimes art will show us something that’s not nice to look at. It may even be hideous, but it can be hard to look away.  

'Bust of an Old Grotesque Woman' is a favourite of mine because it’s not at all attractive and yet it draws you in and asks some profound questions.

In a corner of one of the rooms in the Scottish National Gallery, sits this incredible marble sculpture, possibly by Antonio Montauti.

The detail here is incredible. Not just in the woman's face but in her hands and in the shawl that she has wrapped about her. Montauti manages to create something that is delicate but tough, old but full of life, fragile but robust.

On the bust’s forehead, above the lines of skin and wrinkles, is a smooth section of skin which seems slightly incongruous. If this woman is to be portrayed as hideous or grotesque, and if you think the wrinkles on her face make her so, then surely her whole head should be covered in them. Was this a mistake or was this what the person actually looked like?

If this work is based on a real person, is it morally right?  If it had been made made recently, and had been based on reality, you'd expect one tabloid paper to condemn it and start a petition to have it banned. Another tabloid paper would then praise it for showing that it's not how a person looks but what's under the skin that matters.

If this wasn’t displayed in a gallery, who would want to own it? Would you want it lurking in a corner of your living room, constantly watching you from the shadows? Would you have it in your window scaring away potential visitors? Would Broughton’s shops and hair salons embrace the 'Bust of an Old Grotesque Woman' and display it proudly? 

It's certainly not a work of conventional beauty, but this sculpture engrosses and unsettles me with difficult questions. Hundreds of years after its creation, it is still making an impact.

Beautiful or grotesque, offensive or bold, this is what art is all about.  

[Attributed to Antonio MONTAUTI (c.1685–1740). Bust of an Old Grotesque Woman, possibly one of the Fates, about 1705–1740. Collection: National Galleries of Scotland,  purchased 2003. Photo of bust: Antonio Reeve. Photo of shop window: Rhys Fullerton.]

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Email fromt Belinda Smail: It's the hand that creeps me. Too big. A man's? Does it grip to reveal or conceal?