Portrait of Karl Ludwig Johann
Medium
Brush and brown wash over graphite underdrawing
Dimensions
17.4 x 11.6 cm
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
49.19.88
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the intimate Portrait of Karl Ludwig Johann, French artist Jean-Baptiste-François Bosio captures the dignified likeness of his sitter through a delicate drawing technique. Created undated but emblematic of early 19th-century neoclassicism, this small-scale work (17.4 x 11.6 cm) measures just the size of a modern postcard, suggesting it served as a preparatory study, perhaps for a larger sculpture or portrait commission. Bosio, a renowned sculptor and draughtsman trained in the rigorous traditions of the French Academy, often portrayed nobility and military figures, as hinted by the tags ass...