Portrait of Denis Diderot (1713–1784)

Louis-Michel van Loo painted this celebrated portrait of Denis Diderot in 1767. Diderot, the philosopher, encyclopedist, and art critic who practically invented the genre of the Salon review, famously complained about this very portrait, writing that it showed him "pretty like a woman" rather than capturing his true character. Despite Diderot's objections, the portrait became his best-known likeness.

Van Loo renders Diderot in an informal pose, dressed in a luxurious dressing gown with his hair undone, giving the portrait a sense of literary informality. The warm palette and careful rendering of the rich fabric contrast with the philosopher's penetrating gaze.