Jonge vrouw in de ochtend 1776

Louis Marin Bonnet created this color chalk manner print of a young woman in the morning, sometime before 1793. It’s a lovely example of a technique that mimicked the effect of pastel drawings, but was actually printed. The key to Bonnet’s print is its layering. He used multiple plates, each inked in a different color – think of it as a very sophisticated version of a color Xerox. The final image is a composite of these layers, creating a soft, almost dreamy effect, quite different from the sharp lines of etching or engraving. What’s easy to miss, though, is the sheer labor involved. Each plate had to be precisely registered, and the inking carefully controlled. It was a painstaking process, requiring not just artistic skill but also technical expertise. So, while the image itself seems light and airy, remember the deep investment of craft that brought it into being. It's a reminder that even the most seemingly effortless artworks are often the product of intense material engagement.