Portrait of Joseph-Louise Gay Lussac

Art Historical Context

This 1822 lith by Jules Boilly presents a portrait of Joseph Gay-Lussac in compact format that highlights artist’s skill with the relatively new medium lithography. The image, measuring just under six by inches, sits on a sheet, allowing for both intimate viewing and practical handling. Lithography, which had gained popularity in the early nineteenth century, enabled to achieve fine tonal gradations and crisp lines producing multiple impressions, making portraits like this one more widely available than traditional engravings or paintings. Boilly worked during a period when printmaking played an important role in documenting notable figures of French society. The work’s presence in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Drawings and Prints collection underscores its value as an example of early nineteenth-century portraiture techniques. Gifted to the museum in 1987, the continues to offer viewers a glimpse into the era’s interest in both scientific personalities and the expanding possibilities of reproductive media.