Portrait of a Man

Portrait of a Man

Jean Etienne Liotard

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Born in Geneva and largely self-taught, Liotard spent a great part of his life travelling, capturing the likenesses of Europe’s upper classes with a steady and penetrating eye. His portraits, typically executed in chalk or pastel, exhibit a quasi-scientific clarity of observation, more suggestive of Enlightenment curiosity than of Rococo artifice. In the present sheet, attention is focussed on the face, where a soft network of hatching in red and black chalk gently mark the topography of the sitter’s features as revealed by the fall of light. The thoughtful yet formal pose, with eyes gazing evenly into the distance, conveys a calm authority. The identity of this handsome and self-assured man unfortunately cannot be stated with certainty. A tradition within the family records of the previous owner identified the sitter as a member of the André family, bankers in Geneva and Paris. Such sheets would have been considered finished works, as suggested by Liotard’s practice of applying colored wash on areas of the verso corresponding to hair, flesh, and clothing. Presumably, this was intended to subtly enhance tonal variations on the recto of the sheet. (Perrin Stein)

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.