Portrait of Mark Akenside
Medium
Brush and brown wash over graphite underdrawing.
Dimensions
6 5/8 x 4 5/8in. (16.8 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
49.19.103
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate portrait drawing captures the likeness of Mark Akenside, an esteemed 18th-century English poet physician best known for his philosophical poem *The Pleasures Imagination*. Created by Jean-Baptiste-François Bos, a French neoclassical and draftsman active in the late 18 and early 19th, the undated work exemplifies artist's skill in preparatory sketches. At just 6 5/8 x 4 5/8 inches, it invites close viewing, revealing Bosio's precise graphite underdrawing softened by fluid brushwork and brown wash for subtle tonal modeling. The technique—graphite lines overlaid with translucent wa...