Artist: Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat 1833 - 1922 was a French painter, Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur and professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts.
Printer: Alfred Cadart (1828 – 1875) was a French printer, writer, and publisher, notable for his major part in the etching revival in mid-19th-century France and beyond. As founder of the French Société des Aquafortistes, he combined strategic understanding with a passion for the artistic qualities of the etching.
His efforts to promote the art of etching did not bring him financial success, but he did help develop the infrastructure for original printmaking that emerged in the 1890s.
Title: Léon Cogniet (29 August 1794 – 20 November 1880) was a French history and portrait painter. He is probably best remembered as a teacher, with more than one hundred notable students.
Signed, Numbered, Titled, and Dated: L. Bonnat pinx. et sc. Léon Cogniet. Gazette des Beaux-Arts. Imp. Cadart Paris.
Dimensions: Sheet 10 1/8" x 6 7/8".
Edition: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1881, 23d year. Vol. 2. p. 43.
Date: 1881.
Materials and Techniques: etching on laid paper.
Provenance: The Estate of George "Yorgo" Demetrakopoulos; professor, assistant director of the Medieval Institute, and assistant to the dean at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, from 1965-2000.
Condition: Remnants of the old hinges verso. The signs of aging are appropriate for the time. A detailed condition report is available on demand.
Catalog Raisonne: IFF vol. III, p. 124, no. 3.
Museums and Libraries: The Cleveland Museum of Art 2009.563.
Art Movements, Periods & Schools: French School XIX C.
Note: This entry incorporates text from Wikipedia and the catalog entry of the same item from The Cleveland Museum of Art collection.