Portrait of Charles Bonnet
Medium
Brush and brown wash over graphite underdrawing.
Dimensions
6 11/16 x 4 5/8in. (17 x 11.7cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
Accession Number
49.19.93
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, *Portrait of Charles Bonnet by Jean-Baptiste-François Bos captures the thoughtful visage of the renowned Swiss naturalist and philosopher1720–1793). Bosio, a prominent French neoclassical sculptor during the Napoleonic era, crafted this study, likely as a preparatory work for a larger sculpture or portrait. Though undated, its style reflects the precise, idealized forms of neoclassicism, emphasizing Bonnet's intellectual gravitas amid the Enlightenment's fascination with science and reason. Executed in brush and brown...