The sculptor František Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-1783) is one of the most interesting figures in central European 18.th-century art. Even his earliest works were surprising in their professional maturity, impeccable sovereignty over the material and conceptual ambition. Messerschmidt came from a family of South-German wood-carvers and learned his craft with his uncles, J.B. Straub in Munich and J.G. Straub in Graz, before acquiring a broad schooling in art at Vienna's Academy of Fine Art. Following a visit to Italy, he lived from 1760 to 1775 in Vienna, where he was a sculptor of standing. The concluding phase of Messerschmidt's creative life unfolded in Bratislava, where he settled in 1777. It was here that his work on numerous, almost life-size heads in various materials had its culmination. A large number of these consist of facial expressions and portraits that are extremely naturalistic in form. Sixty-nine such works were found in his studio after his death. A mere ten years later they were accorded a first exhibition in Vienna, for which they were collectively dubbed Character Heads and given the individual titles by which they are still known. Fascination with these works, their- caricatural grimaces and ornamental stylisation, continues to this day. Direct sources of inspiration in the research of scientists and in the works of artists, they are a frequent feature of exhibitions and permanent collections.