アントワーヌ=ローラン・ド・ラヴォアジエ (1743–1794年)とその妻 (マリー・アンヌ・ピエレット・ポールズ、(1758–1836年)の肖像画

The great chemist writes at a table of glass instruments while his wife, standing above him, looks straight at us. She commissioned the portrait from her own drawing teacher. Six years later he was guillotined.

The story behind the painting

In 1788 Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze, wife and scientific collaborator of the chemist Antoine Lavoisier, commissioned this double portrait from Jacques-Louis David, who had taught her drawing. Full length portraits were then uncommon for anyone but royalty, so the picture was a sign of the couple's status and wealth. Yet it was not allowed to be shown at the Paris Salon, for fear that an image of a man tied to the royal court and the old regime might provoke anti-aristocratic anger.

What to look for

The couple are in Lavoisier's office, before false marble walls with three pilasters. Marie-Anne stands in a white dress with a lace ruffle and blue sash, powdered hair, resting on her husband's shoulder and looking at us. He sits in black, writing with a quill, his face turned to her. On the red velvet table are papers, a barometer, a gasometer, a water still and a glass bell jar; a large flask lies on the floor. Her document case on the left balances his instruments on the right. Placing the wife above the husband was unusual.

Meaning and intent

Scans by the Metropolitan Museum with infrared and X-ray fluorescence revealed that David changed the picture a great deal. At first he showed the couple as wealthy tax collectors and fashionable consumers. Marie-Anne wore a large hat, Antoine a longer brown coat, the red cloth hid a gilded table, and tally books stood on a shelf. The scientific instruments were added later, turning a rich couple into scientific partners. Despite this more modest image, Lavoisier was arrested in 1793 for his role in tax collecting and guillotined in July 1794.

Legacy

Lavoisier was later cleared by the French government and his belongings returned to his widow. In 1836 Marie-Anne left the painting to her great-niece, and it stayed with the descendants until 1924, when John D. Rockefeller bought it. He gave it to the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in 1927, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired it in 1977. Not shown publicly until 1889, it had no influence on David's contemporaries, but is now admired for its daring posture and its brilliant scientific instruments.