Portrait of a Man Holding a Book, Turned to the Right
1758/62
Black and white chalk, with traces of red chalk, on blue laid paper, rubbed on the verso with vermillion and traced with a stylus
53 × 45.8 cm (20.9 × 18 in)
SEE IT IN PERSON
Not currently on view
In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026
Discussion
FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG
Liotard was internationally famous in the mid-18th century for his incisive and resplendent pastel portraits, such as the Art Institute’s Portrait of Marthe-Marie Tronchin . This rare preliminary study of an unknown gentleman reveals some of the artist’s working method: he rubbed the back of the sheet of blue paper with a lush vermilion pastel, to trace and thus transfer the outlines of the figure onto another support.
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