Tag Archives: Headpieces

Grotesque Headpiece with Cherubs Riding Half-Vegetable Dragons Backwards

DescriptionEnglish: Grotesque headpiece from the title page of Las Casas’ Brevissima relacion de la destruycion de las Indias, 1552
Date1552
SourceBrevissima relacion de la destruycio de las Indias (https://archive.org/details/breuissimarelaci00casa/page/n5/mode/2up)
AuthorAnonymous
This scalable ornament can be used at any size.

Headpieces by Peter Behrens

DescriptionEnglish: Ornament from a German almanac for 1899
Date1898
SourceDer Bunte Vogel von 1899 (https://archive.org/details/derbuntevogelvon00bier/mode/2up)
AuthorPeter Behrens
These scalable ornaments can be used at any size. They were designed to be simple enough to be printed on very cheap paper. The last one can be used as the top of a frame, the bottom of which is made by duplicating the ornament and flipping it upside-down, with rules between the parts if you like.

Jugendstil Ornaments

DescriptionEnglish: Ornament from a 1907 German book
Date1907
SourceAdapted from Die künstlerische Entwicklung und das Lebenswerk das Landschaftsmalers Karl Rettich (https://archive.org/details/dieknstlerischee00lenz/mode/2up)
AuthorAnonymous

These scalable ornaments can be used at any size. The last is simply a repetition of the first ornament, with a repeated pair of wavy lines below, forming a headpiece. This is how it was constructed in letterpress, and we have constructed it the same way in Inkscape.