Jérôme de La Lande

Portrait of Jérôme de Lalande (c. 1769), in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, depicts the famous French astronomer Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande (1732-1807), one of the leading scientists of the Enlightenment. Lalande directed the Paris Observatory and published extensively on astronomy, making him a major intellectual figure. Fragonard's portrait captures the scientist with the fluid brushwork and warm palette of his fantasy portrait series, transforming a scientific personality into a characteristically vivid Fragonard figure.

The portrait balances scientific gravitas with Fragonard's characteristically warm and sympathetic handling. The sitter's intelligent expression is captured with careful attention to physiognomic detail.