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Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725–1805)
Portrait of Denis Diderot (1713–1784), 1766
Black chalk, stumped, and white chalk, worked wet, with touches of gray chalk, on brown paper
Signed at upper right in graphite, J. B. Greuze
14 1/4 x 11 1/16 inches (361 x 283 mm)
Purchased as the gift of John M. Crawford, Jr.; 1958.3
See CORSAIR catalog record for this item »
Diderot sat for this portrait the year that he and Jean le Rond d’Alembert completed the Encyclopédie. He found it to be the
most accurate depiction of him, stating, "I had a . . . head totally in the character of an ancient orator, a guilelessness that
nearly bordered on simplicity, on the rusticity of ancient times." The profile medallion format lent itself easily to
reproduction by engraving, and Greuze’s image thus became the iconic representation of the great Enlightenment
philosopher.
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