About this artwork
The French philosopher, playwright, and satirist Voltaire frequently deployed allegories touching on antiquity in his writings In this epic print, Melpomene, Muse of tragedy, leads Voltaire to Apollo to receive the crown of immortality, while his detractors face the fiery pit of hell and Thalia, Muse of comedy, doubles over in laughter. In the background a sculpted bust of Voltaire is wreathed, a ceremony enacted on Paris stages after the writer’s 1778 death. The print was likely made around 1791 to celebrate Voltaire’s re-burial inside the Paris Panthéon, a repurposed church designed after the ancient Roman Pantheon (here described as the Temple of Memory). Voltaire himself owned the original painting of this subject by the same amateur artist who created this print.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- A. Duplessis
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Title
- Le Triomphe de Voltaire
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Place
- France (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1773–1784
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Medium
- Etching on ivory laid paper
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Dimensions
- Image: 39.8 × 58.8 cm (15 11/16 × 23 3/16 in.); Image with text and vignette: 49.7 × 60.4 cm (19 5/8 × 23 13/16 in.); Plate: 50.8 × 60.9 cm (20 × 24 in.); Sheet: 59.5 × 87.2 cm (23 7/16 × 34 3/8 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
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Reference Number
- 2013.528
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/148554/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
