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Lot Essay
Monégasque by birth, Jean Baptiste François Bosio moved to Paris around 1775, were he trained as a history painter at the École des Beaux-Arts. He was a friend and student of the great Neoclassical painter, Jacques-Louis David. In 1800, he became a drawing instructor at the École Polytechnique, and published a thesis on the art of anatomical drawing and antique sculpture. He participated in the Salons of 1793, 1798, 1801 and 1804, exhibiting mythological and religious paintings. Bosio is celebrated for his watercolors and drawings, which explore salon society of the First Empire and later the Restoration. The artist moved to Milan around 1805, where he produced an engraved series of historical portraits, several of which represent the Bonaparte family, with numerous images dedicated to the Emperor and Prince Eugène. Bosio returned to Paris around 1818, where he published a series of portraits of courageous soldiers for a gallery of French military figures. In his later career, he painted portraits of King Louis XVIII and the Duke of Bordeaux, before his final exhibition at the Salon of 1824.
Bosio portrays himself here in an elegant, blue velvet frock-coat, with his son, Astyanax Scaevola (1793-1876), standing at his side. Continuing his family’s artistic tradition, Astyanax trained as a sculptor with his uncle, François Joseph Bosio. His statue of St Adelaide was installed in the Madeleine Church in Paris, winning him great acclaim. He is also remembered for his carved relief on the Arc de Triomphe, as well for the four caryatids he made for the Louvre Palace. Judging from the appearance of his son, Bosio likely painted this self-portrait in the 9th year of the French Republic, around the same time that he accepted his position at the École Polytechnique. He carries a portfolio of drawings, referencing his mastery of draftsmanship, while the statue in the background is of the Medici Venus type, reflecting his fascination with Antiquity.
Bosio portrays himself here in an elegant, blue velvet frock-coat, with his son, Astyanax Scaevola (1793-1876), standing at his side. Continuing his family’s artistic tradition, Astyanax trained as a sculptor with his uncle, François Joseph Bosio. His statue of St Adelaide was installed in the Madeleine Church in Paris, winning him great acclaim. He is also remembered for his carved relief on the Arc de Triomphe, as well for the four caryatids he made for the Louvre Palace. Judging from the appearance of his son, Bosio likely painted this self-portrait in the 9th year of the French Republic, around the same time that he accepted his position at the École Polytechnique. He carries a portfolio of drawings, referencing his mastery of draftsmanship, while the statue in the background is of the Medici Venus type, reflecting his fascination with Antiquity.