Engraving by Robert Benard: Captain James Cook - From Cook's Voyages, French Edition, Framed

Somehow a powdered gentleman gazes from an oval, looking faintly like he is about to speak

This engraving is by Robert Benard, from Paris, France, and is ca. 1774. It is ink on paper. Printmaking carried enthusiasm for the Orient beyond a small circle of patrons, because publishers and artists produced illustrated books on travel and religion that could be distributed affordably to all classes. A hand-tinted portrait of a man in a dark coat with a black neck cloth, framed in an oval with a ruled caption block beneath. The shading is soft and gray with little color. It sits in a burnished frame and wide cream mat. It is 14 inches wide and 16.6 high.

Composed, buttoned up, and quietly pleased with the oval.