Voltaire Seen in Profile

Jean Huber Swiss, 1721-1786 →

etchingprint

Date

n.d.

Medium

Etching on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Plate: 21.2 × 16 cm (8 3/8 × 6 5/16 in.); Sheet: 22 × 17.8 cm (8 11/16 × 7 1/16 in.)

Museum

Art Institute of Chicago

Location

Chicago, IL

Credit

The Joseph Brooks Fair Collection

Seen here is the famous French Enlightenment philosopher, poet, playwright, satirist, and historian known as Voltaire (1694–1778), born François-Marie Arouet. The conscience of his age, Voltaire remains relevant today; in the wake of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shootings, his Treatise on Tolerance was brandished in Parisian rallies, leading the publisher Gallimard to reprint the volume in an edition of 10,000 copies.

Also notable

Works in the same vein

Le Déjeuner de Voltaire à Ferney ou Le Souper des Philosophes (The Lunch of Voltaire in Ferney or the Soup of Philsophers)

Unknown Artist after Jean Huber (Swiss, 1721-1786)

Hyacinthe and Passion Fruit Flower, plate two from Mes Petits Bouquets

Charles Germain de Saint-Aubin French, 1721–1786

Les Papillons en scene ou Theatre Italien (Butterflies on Stage or Italian Theater, from Essai de Papiloneries Humaines par Saint aubin)

Charles Germaine de Saint-Aubin French, 1721-1786

Premier et Deuxième Recueil de Chiffres

Marillier, Clément Pierre (French, 1740-1808) after Charles Germaine de Saint-Aubin (French, 1721-1786)