Portrait of M. Martin
Charles Boily
French
1805
A small physionotrace engraving of a sitter in profile, made to reproduce a clear likeness while suggesting character for an intimate, collectible portrait.
Set inside a dark circular ground like a medal, the face reads with crisp, stippled and hatched strokes—soft hair, a high collar, and looping handwritten lines beneath that pull the eye from image to text.
This work shows the physionotrace’s role in early mechanical-aided portraiture, blending hand engraving and tracing to make accurate, affordable likenesses and foreshadowing later photographic and mass-reproduction practices.
Medium
Physionotrace engraving
Dimensions
3 1/4 × 2 9/16" (8.0 × 6.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of John Parkinson III
Accession
278.1982
Palette
Exhibitions
