Louis-Marin Bonnet (1736-1795 )The Fine Musetioners. 1775. Tool engraving in pastel manner after Raoux. 347 x 275. Herold 300. Printed in colour and gilt bronze ink. Superb proof with the engraved ornamental frame, trimmed on the outside of it, without the shelf. Frame. The title and the London address - here missing because cropped - were probably a subterfuge to circumvent French corporate limitations on the use of gold, as well as a commercial trick to capitalize on the craze for English engraving in Paris at the time. "This imitation of the entire Pastel, with all its light and dark shades, is an illusion and does not give way to paintings for the freshness and vivacity of the colours. "(Mercure de France, July 1769).