Portrait of Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698

Currently not on view

Portrait of Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698 - 1759)

1741

Jean Daullé (French, 1703–1763) , and Johann Georg Wille (German (active France), 1715–1808) After a painting by Robert Tournières (French, 1667–1752) Inscribed with verses by Voltaire (1694–1778)

Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, a mathematician and scientist, was elected to the Royal Academy of Science at the age of twenty-five. In 1736 Maupertuis led an expedition to Lapland to take measurements to prove Sir Isaac Newton's theory that the earth is flat at the poles. Here the scientist pushes down on a model of the earth with his right hand to emphasize this point. In his memoirs, Jean-Georges Wille, the engraver who assisted Jean Daullé in making this print, describes Maupertuis's outfit: "dressed head to toe in animal skins according to the custom and necessity of the very miserable Laplanders."

Currently not on view

Object Details

Titles:

Portrait of Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698 - 1759)

Date:

1741

Artists:

Medium:

Etching and engraving (proof before letters with hand-lettered inscription in brown ink)

Dimensions:

Plate: 20 x 14 5/8 inches (50.8 x 37.2 cm) Sheet: 21 9/16 x 15 13/16 inches (54.8 x 40.1 cm)

Classification:

Prints

Credit Line:

The Muriel and Philip Berman Gift, acquired from the John S. Phillips bequest of 1876 to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, with funds contributed by Muriel and Philip Berman, gifts (by exchange) of Lisa Norris Elkins, Bryant W. Langston, Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White, with additional funds contributed by John Howard McFadden, Jr., Thomas Skelton Harrison, and the Philip H. and A.S.W. Rosenbach Foundation, 1985

Accession Number:

1985-52-37871

Geography:

Made in Paris, France, Europe

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Currently not on view