The deliberate prankster belongs to the great collection of Franz Xaver Messerschmidts character heads. The character heads today belong to the most popular work of Messerschmidt. The whole collection of character heads includes over 52 heads with bizarre facial expressions. Only a few wrinkles make this face look kind of bizarre and abnormal. The great face with its kind of funny facial expression is signed on its backside with "Xaver Messerschmidt". Sculptures for Sale - Contemporary Art - Contemporary Sculptures for Sale Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-1783) was German-Austrian painter and sculptor most known for his series of canonical grimaces sculptures. Messerschmidt’s character heads were inspired by the mysterious condition that forced the artist to leave the Vienna Academy of Arts. The undiagnosed digestive illness that caused Messerschmidt so much pain is today believed to have been Crohn’s disease. At one point, he came up with a series of pinches he would apply to his right lower rib in order to take his mind off the pain. Looking in the mirror while he was applying his pinches, and seeing his facial expressions, Messerschmidt decided to immortalize his pain in a series of sculptures. Thus, in 1781 Franz Xaver Messerschmidt started working on his famous character heads, using himself as a model.