Portrait of Charles Bonnet 1780 - 1827

This portrait of Charles Bonnet was drawn by Jean-Baptiste-François Bosio with pen and brown ink, and brown wash over graphite. The artist’s choice of materials gives the work a soft, delicate feel; the washes blend together like watercolor, and the ink lines are crisp. Yet there’s also a sense of labor involved in the making of this artwork. The graphite underdrawing suggests a careful planning, and then a painstaking outlining in ink. Bosio has built up the figure of Bonnet with repeated strokes, creating shadows and depth. This is not an industrial process, it is a slow, manual one. There is a direct contrast between the soft washes of the background and the sharp lines of the portrait. Bosio asks us to recognize both the specificity of the man, Bonnet, and the beauty of the natural world around him. Ultimately, we recognize that this is a crafted object, an idea shaped through skilled labor. It makes us reconsider what "art" can be when it is rooted in material and process.