Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis 1741

Curator: This is Jean Daullé’s portrait of Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, a French mathematician and philosopher from the 18th century, held here at the Harvard Art Museums. It offers a glimpse into the intellectual circles of the Enlightenment. Editor: Wow, it's got this adventurous feel, almost like a scholarly Indiana Jones! The globe, the furs, the pointing finger... it’s a tableau of exploration. Curator: Precisely. Maupertuis was a key figure in the expedition to Lapland to measure the meridian arc, a mission crucial to confirming Newton's theory about the Earth's shape. That journey challenged existing scientific paradigms. Editor: I'm drawn to the little sketches at the bottom, too. The dog sled scene adds such a unique touch, grounding this grand intellectual in a very real, and probably freezing, experience. Curator: They contextualize the sitter within the broader narrative of scientific discovery and colonial expansion. Editor: It's like the whole image is whispering stories of daring expeditions and mind-bending calculations. I love that. Curator: Indeed. The piece encourages us to consider how scientific inquiry can be linked to geographical exploration and the shifting boundaries of knowledge. Editor: Yes, it really prompts me to see the world through the lens of someone striving to map both its physical and intellectual terrains.