Caricature of Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande (1732-1807)

These amusing caricatures by François-André Vincent depict members of the Institut de France. The drawings come from an album sold at auction in Paris soon after 1960. The album, known as Album Baderou from the name of its owner, the collector and art dealer Henri Baderou (1910-1991), contained about 49 caricatures. All the drawings, now dispersed, present manuscript inscriptions in a 19th Century hand identifying the sitters. A large group of these caricatures (28) were donated by Henri Baderou and his wife Suzanne to the musée de Rouen in 1975 (see J.-P. Cuzin, 'Vincent de l'Académie de France à 'Institut de France', in La donation Suzanne et Henri Baderou au musée de Rouen. Peintures et dessins de l'École française, Paris, 1980, p. 99, note 19.; see also J.-P. Cuzin, François-André Vincent, 1746-1816 entre Fragonard et David, Paris, 2013, nos. 601D and 603D.).
The Institut, created in 1795, was intended to replace the Royal Academy after the French Revolution and unite France's intellectuals in the fields of the sciences, arts, and humanities. The caricatures were likely made without the sitters' knowledge; whether or not Vincent showed them to his subjects is unknown. All of the drawings in the group are of similar small dimension and drawn with same rapid technique of pen and ink. The pleasure of these drawings is the unique character each one possesses, speaking of the talent of Vincent as an artist, and his familiarity with his subjects as a friend.
Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande (1732-1807) was a French astronomer. He is famous for calculating the distance from the Earth to the Sun using the transit of Venus, and also for predicting the return of Halley's Comet. Vincent made several caricatures of Lalande with different expressions, perhaps indicative of Lalande's impassioned performance at the Institut meetings - see also Louvre RF 54905. A portrait of Lalande by Fragonard is in the collection of the Petit Palais, Paris, inv. PDUT1194, and a pastel by Joseph Ducreux is at the Chateau de Versailles, inv. Dess 1060. A marble bust by Houdon is in the Musée du Louvre.
Comte Pierre Louis Roederer (1754-1835) was a French politician and historian. Roederer was forced to flee during the Reign of Terror, but returned to politics when it ended. Roederer joined the Institut in 1796 and became a professor of political economy. Vincent depicts him here in a stern profile, with a stiff set to his lip and a furrowed brow.