The Lunch at Ferney

Long banished from official court functions, Voltaire continued entertaining his intellectual friends even into his twilight years. Here the artist Denon, who actively solicited an invitation from Voltaire, shows the philosopher as a doddering, toothless old man in his bedroom at his Ferney estate, near the Swiss border. Voltaire and Denon would later disagree about the arguably satirical intent of this scene and of another portrait by Denon. Nonetheless, the resulting engraving was prized by collectors. Thomas Jefferson purchased an impression during a visit to France and later presented it to his grandson-in-law as a wedding present.