Portret van Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon 1773

Justus Chevillet's portrait of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, was produced as an engraving sometime in the late 18th century. It captures Buffon, the famous French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. It presents a framed bust of Buffon, above a plaque with the legend 'Naturam amplectitur omnem,' meaning 'he embraces all of nature'. The phrase and the very image itself speak to the culture of encyclopedic knowledge that took hold in France at this time. This was a culture that sought to comprehend all of nature through the lenses of reason and scientific observation. This approach to knowledge was often associated with progressive and even revolutionary political ideas, which were certainly circulating in French intellectual circles as this image was made. We can learn more about this history by researching the institutions that supported such scientific research, and by considering the ways in which images like this helped to disseminate new ideas. These sources allow us to understand the social life of art.