Boy Reading
François Bonvin
1856–1866
- Medium
- Black chalk, heightened with touches of white chalk, on white laid paper
- Dimensions
- 47.5 × 31.2 cm (18 3/4 × 12 5/16 in.)
- Genre
- chalk
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tags
drawings (visual works)chalkprints and drawingpaper (fiber product)
About
Large-scale monochrome drawings, such as this one, became popular in 19th-century France and were considered finished works in their own right, rather than preparatory studies for paintings. Here, a young boy is lost in contemplation while reading a book. This scene of leisure serves as a counterpoint to Servant Drawing Water from the Fountain (2024.149), which depicts a maid at work.
