Portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and his wife

David painted Portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and His Wife around 1788, one of the most celebrated double portraits in the history of art. The great chemist — widely regarded as the father of modern chemistry — and his wife Marie-Anne, who was his scientific collaborator, are depicted together in Lavoisier's laboratory. The composition places the chemist within the working context of his scientific practice — his instruments and glassware on the table — while his wife leans toward him with the attentive regard of a devoted partner and scientific assistant. The painting documents the period's most productive scientific marriage just years before the Revolution that would send Lavoisier to the guillotine in 1794.

David combines the precision of scientific illustration in the laboratory instruments with the warmth of portraiture in the figures. The stark clarity of the composition and the careful rendering of glass, metal, and fabric demonstrate David's Neoclassical mastery of form and surface.