Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
1962.02 |
Object Name |
Figurine |
Title |
Figurine of Voltaire |
Artist |
Unknown |
Description |
Bronze figurine of a slightly stooped figure with his left hand in pocket and right hand holding a cane. Figure has shoulder length curly hair and wears an ornate jacket, jabot, and breeches. Figurine is attached to a circular base which is inscribed "VOLTAIRE". |
Label |
This statuette of Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire may have been modeled after the 18th-century statuette by sculptor Jean-Claude Rosset (du Pont). Rosset lived close to Voltaire and became a good friend of the Enlightenment philosopher. Voltaire believed in the supremacy of reason and wrote treatises against inequality and injustice. He was known for his wit and satire and was very popular with the founding fathers. Benjamin Franklin is known to have taken his grandson, William Temple Franklin, to meet Voltaire. |
Medium |
Bronze |
Dimensions |
H-13.75 W-4.75 inches |
Credit line |
American Philosophical Society. Gift at the bequest of William Ezra Lingelbach, 1962. |
Search Terms |
sculpture France enlightenment philosophy |