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...