Portrait of Anne Robert Turgot, Baron of Laulne
Medium
Plaster, patinated
Dimensions
84.5 × 55.9 cm (33 1/4 × 22 in.)
Classification
bust/head
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
15297
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Economist Anne Robert Turgot aimed to stabilize France’s financial situation, which had deteriorated during Louis XV’s reign. Some of Turgot’s ideas later influenced economic reforms espoused during the French Revolution, including his efforts to abolish corvée, a system of intermittent forced labor imposed on the peasant class. In this plaster portrait, Turgot wears a curly wig fashionable for men of the period. A lace jabot—the ruffled ornamentation at the front of the shirt—pokes through his...