Published in Rhythms, expressions and representations of the body

Keywords: Keywords: Antiquity, Baroque, Face, Presence and Absence.

Generally, when we refer to human representation, we immediately remember the human body, the human figure, and when we deal with the subject, the first reference is his face or, more specifically, his portrait. It is interesting to remember, in this regard, that the face itself can be fragmented, divided into significant, if not autonomous, parts. Without intending to go through an exhaustive and linear history of the face, consenting to jumps and returns between Antiquity and the Baroque with some providential escapes, I turn to Giorgio Agamben regarding the asymmetrical relationship between the head and the body, while Georges Didi-Huberman and Jacques Rancière help us on the affinity of the images of figured bodies with the presence or absence of the subject, especially in the face.