Abraham Bosse

Abraham Bosse learned the stepped etching process from Callot, and later published a treatise on etching (on view in this gallery). Although Bosse’s compositions have a different character than his teacher’s - for instance their emphasis on monumental figures and interior settings - his tongue-in-cheek presentation of real people and real places is akin to that of Callot. In this depiction of the four seasons, Bosse does away with a more traditional allegorical presentation in favor of portraying middle class people in contemporary costume, and makes connections to seasonal activities that are less agrarian than they are urban and domestic. In the raucous scene representing Autumn, the drunken characters have taken too many liberties with the grape harvest.