The Autobiography of the Hand

From Artist’s Hand to Divine Hand

Abstract

In the artistic lexicon, we sometimes come across archetypal forms. Among these there is also the artist's hand; compared to the hand of a divine demiurge, it reveals a theoretical approach to the artistic identity. In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, the hand is the visual focus of the self-portraits painted by Parmigianino and Artemisia Gentileschi and, as allegorical apparition, it appears in Rembrandt’s Belshazzar’s Feast (1636) and even, much more recently, in the graphic work by Hinsberg (2004). Géricault’s anatomic left-hand drawing (1823) is a metaphorical fragment and, in the 20^th century, it returns in the signature-pictures by Duchamp, Fontana and Boetti.