A Life Cut Short The life of Peter Joseph Bone remains a brief, flickering candle in the history of British portraiture. Born in London in 1785, he belonged to a period of intense artistic activity, yet his own biography is marked by a sudden departure. He died in Toulouse in 1814, leaving behind a legacy that is defined more by what remains in private and national collections than by a vast, documented oeuvre. His existence was a quie…