Voltaire

This marble bust of the French philosopher Voltaire (né François-Marie Arouet 1694-1778) was crafted by the admiring artist Jean-Antoine Houdin, who rendered the famed thinker multiple times during his artistic career. This bust shows Voltaire vulnerable in his old age, yet with a wry expression of humor that speaks to his legendary intelligence and abrasive wit. Voltaire had recently returned to his native city of Paris in early 1778 after years of exile. He was hailed as a hero, having spent his life writing works on history, philosophy, and science, many of which ridiculed the French Roman Catholic monarchy and got him into trouble.

He was jailed several times, and had to live much of his life away from France due to his strong publications that promoted free speech, religious tolerance, and the right to a fair trial — none of these were possible in France at the time.

“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking,” runs one of Voltaire’s sayings. Such a quote shows the importance of reason and the sense of optimism about rationalization that so characterized the French Enlightenment. If you haven’t read _Candide_, Voltaire’s most famous work in English translation, I highly recommend it. It’s funny, insightful, and takes you into the intellectual world-view of 18th-century France.