head in a box

Colley Cibber, actor, playwright, poet. I'd never heard of him before I saw his head in a glass case in the National Portrait Gallery, in London. I've also never seen so lifelike a bust, but then I don't think I've ever seen one that's been painted in this way. The process has produced a work of genius, but I find the effect to be incredibly unsettling. Very appropriate for the halloween season.








Photos are the author’s own


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