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Jean-Marc Nattier (artist) French, 1685 - 1766 Joseph Bonnier de la Mosson, 1745 oil on canvas overall: 137.9 x 105.4 cm (54 5/16 x 41 1/2 in.) Samuel H. Kress Collection 1961.9.30 Not on View |
Bonnier was the perfect eighteenth-century amateur, whose wealth allowed him the leisure to study nature's curiosities. His large collection, open to the public, held cabinets devoted to anatomy, chemistry, pharmacy, and mechanical engineering. Nattier's portrait shows a man of lively intelligence, informally dressed and in a relaxed pose, surrounded by the objects that held his interest: books about natural history (perhaps a publication he sponsored), jars of biological specimens, and mechanical models.