 | |
| Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and His Wife (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836) |
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and His Wife (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836)
Artist:
Jacques Louis David (French, Paris 1748–1825 Brussels)
Date:
1788
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
102 1/4 x 76 5/8 in. (259.7 x 194.6 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, in honor of Everett Fahy, 1977
This magnificent double portrait dates to 1788, when the artist was the standard-bearer of French Neoclassicism. For political reasons, Lavoisier was obliged to withdraw it from the 1789 Salon, and it was not exhibited for a century. Lavoisier was a chemist and famous for his pioneering studies of gunpowder, oxygen, and the chemical composition of water. In 1789 he published a chemistry textbook illustrated by his wife. Despite his services to both the monarchy and the revolutionary regime, he was guillotined.
Provenance
the sitter, Paris (until d. 1794); his wife, Mme Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, later Countess Rumford, Paris (1794–d. 1836); her great-niece, comtesse Pierre-Léon Bérard de Chazelles, Paris and the Auvergne (1836–d. 1888); her son, comte Étienne Bérard de Chazelles, Paris, and château de la Canière, near Aigueperse (1888–d. 1923; his estate, 1923–24; sold to Wildenstein); [Wildenstein, Paris and New York, 1924–25; sold to Rockefeller]; John D. Rockefeller Jr., New York (1925–27); Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, later Rockefeller University, New York (1927–77; sold to MMA)
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
Comments
Post a Comment