Grotesque or Fascinating? Interpreting ‘The Ugly Duchess’
Beauty is finite and ugliness is infinite, like God
Published in
5 min readApr 20, 2021
Source-Wikipedia
Do you remember the Duchess from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland? A woman with short stature and a heavy-wrinkled double chin.
And are you aware of the inspiration behind the ugly-looking character? If the answer is “yes”, then surely you can give a pat on your back, but if you are like me: clueless and curious, then certainly you’re on the right article.
The Ugly Duchess (or The Grotesque Old Woman) is a 16th-century painting by Quentin Matsys housed in the National Gallery, London.
Many curators have found this artwork fascinating mainly because of two main reasons —
- Initially, it was believed that Matsys imitated Leonardo da Vinci’s grotesque caricatures and drew this painting but later theories have suggested that it was Leonardo who got inspired by Matsys's unusual painting and created a series of sketches.
- Another interesting discovery was the medical disease uncovered during the interpretation of the painting in the 19th century. I’d cover it in detail in my article.
