Portrait of Count Vittorio Alfieri 1780 - 1827

Jean-Baptiste-François Bosio created this wash drawing, “Portrait of Count Vittorio Alfieri,” sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. Here, we see the Italian dramatist Vittorio Alfieri, his hand resting on a manuscript, dressed in an antique robe, seated in a landscape with classical allusions. This idealized, somewhat theatrical, depiction suggests a public role for the artist. Alfieri was a celebrated playwright. But this image also casts him as a figure in a wider cultural landscape, connecting him with the landscapes of classical antiquity, where he is surrounded by the accoutrements of scholarship and artistic accomplishment. Bosio made this drawing at a time when the institutions of art were undergoing a radical transformation. The French revolution had challenged the traditional role of the artist as a servant of the court or church, opening up new possibilities for artistic expression and challenging the established hierarchies of the art world. To better understand Bosio's work, we can consult historical archives, literary sources, and critical analyses. In doing so, we recognize that artworks are not created in a vacuum, but are deeply intertwined with the social and institutional contexts in which they are made.