How does Portrait of Alphonse Leroy elucidate its abstract?
Portrait of Alphonse Leroy is a 1783 portrait of doctor and man-midwife Alphonse Leroy by Jacques-Louis David, now in the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, which bought it in 1829.
It shows its subject looking towards the spectator and leaning on a closed copy of Hippocrates' Morbi mulierum, a work on women's illnesses. On the desk is a 'lampe à quinquet', invented by Leroy himself. Together the lamp and book make reference to Cesare Ripa's Iconologia, which states these are the attributes of a study.
The naturalistic attention to detail and its bright tonality show how David was influenced by Flemish painters during his 1781 stay in Flanders. One of his pupils, Jean-François Garneray, assisted in painting the hands and fabrics. It was first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1783.
Cesare Ripa Alphonse Leroy Montpellier Paris Salon Musée Fabre Jacques-Louis David Hippocrates Jean-François Garneray