Salon of 1787

The Salon of 1787 by Pietro Antonio Martini

The Salon of 1787 was an art exhibition held at the Louvre in Paris between 25 August and 23 September 1787. It was the final Salon to take place under the Ancien Régime before the outbreak of the French Revolution two years later. Organised by the Académie Royale it featured submissions from leading painters and sculptors.

One of the most notable paintings on display was The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David. A neoclassical history painting it depicts the Execution of the philosopher Socrates in Ancient Athens. A work featuring the same subject by David's rival Jean-François Pierre Peyron was also shown. Hubert Robert presented a series of four paintings known as the Principal Monuments of France, which featured the ruins of Roman architecture in Provence.

In portraiture thirty two artists displayed around a hundred works. Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun produced several notable paintings including a self-portrait with her daughter. Le Brun was noted particularly for her paintings displaying maternal love at the Salon. Her Marie Antoinette and Her Children featured the French queen, who would be guillotined six years later, with her children the future Louis XVII and Marie Thérèse of France. In sculpture Jean-Antoine Houdon exhibited busts of Prince Henry of Prussia, Lafayette and George Washington.

During the period the exhibition was biannual and has been proceeded by the Salon of 1785. It was followed by the Salon of 1789 which took place after the Storming of the Bastille.

Gallery

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  The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David
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  The Death of Socrate by Jean-François Pierre Peyron
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  Le pont du Gard by Hubert Robert
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  The Arc de Triomphe and the Theatre of Orange by Hubert Robert
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  The Maison Carée, the Arenas and the Magne Tower in Nimes by Hubert Robert
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  Inside the Temple of Diana in Nîmes by Hubert Robert
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  Bathers in a Cave by Joseph Vernet
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  Marie Antoinette and Her Children by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
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  Self-portrait with her Daughter, Julie by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
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  The Marquise de Pezay, and the Marquise de Rougé with Her Sons Alexis and Adrien by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
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  Portrait of the Comtesse de Béon by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
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  Portrait of the Comte d'Espagnac by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
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  Portrait of Henri Bertholet-Campan by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller
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  Portrait of Nicolas-Guy Brenet by Antoine Vestier
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  Portrait of Jean Henri Riesener by Antoine Vestier
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  Portrait of Gabriel-François Doyen by Antoine Vestier
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  Portrait of Madame Élisabeth by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard
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  Madame Élisabeth de France by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard
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  Portrait of Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil by Jean-Laurent Mosnier
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  Still-Life with a Carafe of Barley Wine by Henri-Horace Roland Delaporte
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  The Farewell of Hector and Andromache by Joseph-Marie Vien
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  The Ancient City of Agrigento by Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes
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  Admiral de Coligny Impressing his Murderers by Joseph-Benoît Suvée
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  Statue of Jean Racine by Louis-Simon Boizot
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  Statue of Molière by Jean-Jacques Caffieri

Bibliography

• Freund, Amy. Portraiture and Politics in Revolutionary France. Penn State University Press, 2014.
• Levey, Michael. Painting and Sculpture in France, 1700-1789. Yale University Press, 1993.
• Marandel, Patrice. Europe in the Age of Enlightenment and Revolution. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987.
• Poulet, Anne L. Jean-Antoine Houdon: Sculptor of the Enlightenment. University of Chicago Press, 2003.
• Sheriff, Mary D. The Exceptional Woman: Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun and the Cultural Politics of Art. University of Chicago Press, 1997.
• Walker, Leslie H. A Mother's Love: Crafting Feminine Virtue in Enlightenment France. Associated University Presse, 2008.