Portrait of Voltaire in the Antique style, Jean-Baptiste Nini (1717–1786)

JEAN-BAPTISTE NINI (1717-1786)

signed. J.B. Nini. F. 1781
terra cotta in a bras mount.

Diameter: 14,5 cm
Diameter: 5 3/4 inch

Inscription: Around edge, raised: VOLTAIRE • NE • LE • XX.
FEVRIER • MDCXCIV; (below tranche) J.B. NINI F 1781

other versions:
Metropolitan Museum NY: Acc. 52.189.1
Walters Museum Baltimore: Acc. 27.425

Voltaire, the pen-name of Françoise Marie Arouet (1694-1778), was the leader of Europe's enlightenment intellectuals in the middle of the 18th century. He was both anti-clerical and anti-establishment and was more than once sentenced to imprisonment or exile because of his views. His image was very popular in the late 18th and into the 19th century and he was depicted in a range of media. This is one of several portrait reliefs by Nini.