Abraham Bosse

File:Abraham Bosse Valet de chambre.jpg

He was born to Huguenot (Calvinist) parents in Tours, France, where his father had moved from Germany. His father was a tailor, and Bosse's work always depicted clothes in loving detail. He married Catherine Sarrabat at Tours in 1632. He remained a Huguenot, dying before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, but was happy to illustrate religious subjects to Catholic taste.

Roughly 1600 etchings are attributed to him, with subjects including: daily life, religion, literature, fashion, technology, and science. Most of his output was illustrations for books, but many were also sold separately.

His style grows from Dutch and Flemish art, but is given a strongly French flavour.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} Many of his images give informative detail about middle and upper-class daily life in the period, although they must be treated with care as historical evidence. His combination of very carefully depicted grand interiors with relatively trivial domestic subjects was original and highly influential on French art, and also abroad — William Hogarth's engravings are, among other things, a parody of the style. Most of his images are perhaps best regarded as illustrations rather than art.

Image:Abraham Bosse 001.jpg

He was apprenticed in Paris about 1620 to the Antwerp-born engraver Melchior Tavernier, who was also an important publisher. His first etchings date to 1622, and are influenced by Jacques Bellange. Following a meeting in Paris about 1630, he became a follower of Jacques Callot, whose technical innovations in etching he popularised in the famous and much translated Traité des manières de graver en taille-douce [Treatise on Line Engraving] (1645), the first to be published.Harrison 1996, p. 468. See Commons:Category:Manual of Etching by Abraham Bosse. He took Callot's highly detailed small images to a larger size, and a wider range of subject matter.

Unlike Callot, his declared aim, in which he largely succeeded, was to make etchings look like engravings, to which end he sacrificed willingly the freedom of the etched line, whilst certainly exploiting to the full the speed of the technique. Like most etchers, he frequently used engraving on a plate in addition to etching, but produced no pure engravings.

In 1641, he began to attend classes given by the architect Girard Desargues (1591–1661) on perspective and other technical aspects of depiction. Bosse not only adopted these methods but also published a series of works between 1643–1653 explaining and promoting them.Harrison 1996.

In 1648, Cardinal Mazarin established the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. Bosse was made an honorary member in 1651.Benezit 2006. However his publicising of Desargues' methods embroiled him in a controversy with Charles Le Brun and his followers, who had different methods, and also a belief that "genius" rather than technical method should be the guide in creating artworks. In 1661 Bosse was forced to withdraw from the Academy; he established his own school as an alternative, but it was suppressed by Le Brun.

Image:Leviathan frontispiece cropped British Museum.jpg

• {{lang|fr|Le jardin de la Noblesse françoise}} — fashion (partly after Jean de St-Igny)(1629)
• {{lang|fr|Les Cris de Paris}} ({{circa|1630}}) — street cries
• {{lang|fr|Les gardes françoises}} (1632)
• {{lang|fr|Le mariage à la ville, le mariage à la campagne}} (1633) — bourgeois vs pastoral weddings
• {{lang|fr|Les métiers}} (1635?) — The trades{{Cite journal|last=Guerriaud|first=Mathieu|date=2013-09-01|title=[Abraham Bosse and the dean's engraving] Abraham Bosse et La gravure du Doyen|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259306051|journal=Revue d'histoire de la pharmacie|volume=LXI|issue=378/379|issn=0035-2349}}
• Plates for {{lang|fr|L'Ariane}} (1639)
• Plates for {{lang|fr|[http://www.purl.org/yoolib/inha/3903 Le Trésor des merveilles de la Maison Royale de Fontainebleau]}} (1642)
• {{lang|fr|[https://web.archive.org/web/20180418225523/http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/28-13-geom/start.htm La manière universelle de M. des Argues Lyonnois pour poser l'essieu & placer les heures & autres choses aux cadrans au Soleil]}} (1643), printed by P. de Hayes, Paris
• {{lang|fr|[http://cnum.cnam.fr/redir?8MA18 La pratique du trait à preuve de M. des Argues Lyonnois pour la coupe des pierres en Architecture pratiquer la perspective]}} (1643)
• [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k108373v De la manière de graver à l'eaux-forte et au burin] (1645)
• {{lang|fr|[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k117103s Traité des manières de graver en taille douce sur l'airin par le moyen des eaux-fortes...]}} (1645) The "Manual of Etching".
• {{lang|fr|[https://web.archive.org/web/20150212022313/http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/28-12-geom/start.htm Manière universelle de M. des Argues pour pratiquer la perspective par petit-pied comme le géométral...]}} (1648) — Manual on perspective
• {{lang|fr|Moyen universel de pratiquer la perspective sur les tableaux ou surfaces irrégulières...}} (1653)
• The famous frontispiece for Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes (1651) was created with input from Hobbes.
• Plates for {{lang|fr|La Pucelle ou la France délivrée}} (1656)
• {{lang|fr|Des ordres des colonnes}} (1664) — Architecture
• {{lang|fr|Traité des pratiques géométrales et de perspective}} (1665)

• Die Kunst, in Kupfer zu stechen, Ilmer, Osnabrück 1975 (Repr. d. Ausg. Nürnberg 1765)
• Radier-Büchlein. Handelt von der Etzkunst, nemlich wie man mit Scheidwasser in Kupfer etzen, das Wasser und wie auch den harten und weichen Etzgrund machen solle, Moos, München 1977, {{ISBN|3-7879-0088-8}} (Repr. d. Ausg. Nürnberg 1689)

File:Abraham Bosse, The Shoemakers, NGA 41326.jpg|alt=Men making shoes|The Shoemakers, etching (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, The Valet, NGA 73545.jpg|alt=Valet sorting clothes|The Valet, engraving in black on laid paper, 29 x 20.4 cm (11 7/16 x 8 1/16 in.), (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, Adolescence, 1636, NGA 5255.jpg|alt=Man and woman flirting|Adolescence, 1636, engraving and etching (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, Manhood, 1636, NGA 5253.jpg|alt=People eating around a dining table|Manhood, 1636, engraving and etching (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, Engravers, 1642, NGA 34677.jpg|alt=Men working at desks on engravings, in the background art patrons examining framed pictures|Engravers, 1642, etching (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, Childhood, 1636, NGA 5256.jpg|alt=Children playing a game with balls and a cue stick|Childhood, 1636, engraving and etching (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, Death, 1636, NGA 5254.jpg|alt=Old man by fireplace with two attendants|Death, 1636, engraving and etching (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, Odoratus, L'Ordorat, NGA 73544.jpg|alt=Man and two women on balcony overlooking gardens. One woman and the man are sniffing bunches of flowers. There are two dogs at the man's feet.|Odoratus, L'Ordorat, engraving in black on laid paper, 24 x 32 cm (9 7/16 x 12 5/8 in.) (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, Louis XIII as Hercules, NGA 55106.jpg|alt=Man in the pose of Hercules, carrying club, lion and rooster in background|Louis XIII as Hercules, engraving and etching (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, Michel Larcher, 1647, NGA 42813.jpg|alt=Portrait of a middle-aged man|Michel Larcher, 1647, engraving (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, Gentry Visiting a Prison, NGA 53276.jpg|alt=Noble men and women in a prison yard. Prisoners beseeching aid. One prisoner is chained at the neck.|Gentry Visiting a Prison, engraving with etching, 25.4 x 32.2 cm (10 x 12 11/16 in.) (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, The Wise Virgins at Prayer, NGA 128374.jpg|alt=Five women seated around an altar|The Wise Virgins at Prayer, etching on laid paper, plate: 26 x 33 cm (10 1/4 x 13 in.) (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, The Foolish Virgins Sleeping, NGA 128378.jpg|alt=Five women napping, seated in front of a fireplace|The Foolish Virgins Sleeping, etching on laid paper, plate: 25.4 x 32 cm (10 x 12 5/8 in.) sheet: 29.2 x 36.2 cm (11 1/2 x 14 1/4 in.) (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, The Prodigal Son as a Swineherd, NGA 61183.jpg|alt=Man seated in a small copse, hands clasped in prayer. Pigs in background.|The Prodigal Son as a Swineherd, engraving (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, Le noble peintre, 1642, NGA 140361.jpg|alt=A painter with a portrait on an easel. The subject of the portrait stands next to the painter.|Le Noble Peintre, 1642, etching on laid paper, plate: 9 7/8 x 12 11/16 in. (25.1 x 32.2 cm), sheet: 26.4 x 33.3 cm (10 3/8 x 13 1/8 in.) (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, Frontispiece for Callot's "The Penitents", NGA 36869.jpg|Frontispiece for Callot's "The Penitents", etching and engraving (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, The Wise Virgins before the Fire, NGA 128375.jpg|alt=Five women seated around a fireplace. A prie-dieu is visible.|The Wise Virgins before the Fire, etching on laid paper, plate: 26 x 33 cm (10 1/4 x 13 in.) (National Gallery of Art)

File:Abraham Bosse, A Sculptor in His Atelier, 1642, NGA 121537.jpg|alt=A sculptor is showing a large work to wealthy patrons.|A Sculptor in His Atelier, 1642, etching, plate: 25.8 x 32.5 cm (10 3/16 x 12 13/16 in.) (National Gallery of Art)

{{Reflist}}

• Benezit (2006). [https://doi.org/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00023747 "BOSSE, Abraham"], vol. 2, pp. 922–923, in Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Paris: Gründ.
• Dhombres, Jean; Joël Sakharovitch, editors (1994). Desargues en son temps. Paris: Albert Blanchard. {{ISBN|9782853671880}}.
• Guerriaud, M. (2013), [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259306051_Abraham_Bosse_and_the_dean%27s_engraving_Abraham_Bosse_et_La_gravure_du_Doyen "Abraham Bosse et la gravure du doyen"]. Revue d’Histoire de la Pharmacie, vol. 378/379, {{pp.|289|301}}.
• Harrison, Colin (1996). [https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T010310 "Bosse, Abraham", vol. 4, pp. 467–469], in The Dictionary of Art, 34 volumes, edited by Jane Turner. New York: Grove. {{ISBN|9781884446009}}.
• Join-Lambert, S.; J.-P. Manceau (1995). Abraham Bosse, graveur et sçavant. CRDP de la région Centre.. {{ISBN|2-903769-15-X}}
• Join-Lambert, S.; Maxime Préaud, editors (2004). Abraham Bosse, savant graveur. BNF-Musée des Beaux-arts de Tours, diffusion éd. du Seuil. {{ISBN|2-7177-2283-1}}.
• Vuillemin, Jean-Claude (2008). “Abraham Bosse”, vol. 1, pp. 176–179, in Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century French Philosophers, edited by L. Foisneau, 2 vols. London and New York: Thoemmes Continuum. {{ISBN|9780826418616}}.

{{commons category}}

• [http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/actualites/celebrations2004/abosse.htm Dossier on Abraham Bosse] by the French ministry of culture. (in French)
• [http://expositions.bnf.fr/bosse/index.htm] BNF exhibition feature, with many images & much text in French — click {{lang|fr|feuilletoirs}} for image galleries, then choose from menu on left
• Abraham Bosse (1645) [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/eng_tech/id/13872 Tracté des manieres de graver en taille douce sur l'airin] - digital facsimile from the Linda Hall Library
• [https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.3580.html Works by Abraham Bosse] at the National Gallery of Art

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Category:1600s births

Category:1676 deaths

Category:Artists from Tours, France

Category:17th-century French engravers

Category:Huguenots