1 Carmontelle, Madame Doublet and abbé Le Gendre, ca. 1760, Musée Condé, Chantilly, © RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY 2

2 Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier, Reading of Voltaire’s “L’Orphelin de la Chine” (1755), in the salon of Madame Geoffrin, 1812, Château de Malmaison, © RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY 4

3 Jean-Baptiste Delafosse after Carmontelle, Durey de Meinières (1760). Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of John O’Brien 41

4 Mme Doublet (draughtsman) and Caylus (etcher), Camille Falconet. Bibliothèque nationale de France 48

5 P. E. Moitte, engraving after C.-N. Cochin II, Camille Falconet. Courtesy of the Wellcome Collection 50

6 J.-B. Delafosse, etching after Carmontelle, J.-J Dortous de Mairan, ca. 1760, Musée Carnavalet. Courtesy of ParisMusées 52

7 J.-B. Delafosse, after Carmontelle, Abbé de Chauvelin, ca. 1762, Musée Carnavalet. Courtesy of ParisMusées 61

8 Jean Houël after Carmontelle, Louis Petit de Bachaumont, 1761, Musée Carnavalet. Courtesy of ParisMusées 96

9 Gérard Edelinck after Charles Le Brun, Alexander at the Tent of Darius, 1661. Courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums, Gift of William Gray from the collection of Francis Calley Gray 106

10 J.-B. Delafosse after Carmontelle, Claude-Guillaume II Lambert, 1761. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of John O’Brien 113

11 Anon., etching after Carmontelle, Josephus Xaupi (1764). Musée Carnavalet. Courtesy of ParisMusées 114

12 Eustache Le Sueur, Allégorie d’un ministre parfait, 1683. © Direction des Musées de Dunkerque, Musée des Beaux-Arts / Ph. Emmanuel Watteau. Courtesy of Musées de Dunkerque and Emmanuel Watteau 120

13 Nicolas Poussin, Discovery of Achilles on Skyros, ca. 1649–50. Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection 121

14 Poussin, Venus and Mercury, ca. 1627, Dulwich Picture Gallery. Bridgeman Images 122

15 François Joullain, Ecce Homo, etching and engraving after Charles Coypel’s study for the 1729 altarpiece at the Oratoire, Paris. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund 138

16 Jacques Coelemans after Valerio Castello (1624–1659), Holy Family with Saint John (1690–1709), in Recueil des plus beaux tableaux du Cabinet de Messire J. B. Boyer, seigneur d’Aiguilles, 1744. © The Trustees of the British Museum 139

17 J.-B. Delafosse, etching and engraving after Carmontelle, La malheureuse famille Calas, 1765. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington 143

18 Philippe Charles Trémolières, Muse of Comedy, ca. 1736, The Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection, Bequest of Emma A. Sheafer, 1973. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 148

19 Alexandre-Denis de Nyert, Bacchanale, Louvre. © RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY 150

20 Maison Geoffrin, no. 372 rue Saint-Honoré, Paris. Photo: Wikimedia commons 156

21 Robert de Cotte, no. 368 rue Saint-Honoré, Paris. Photo: Wikimedia commons 156

22 C.-N. Cochin II, Comte de Caylus, 1752. Musée Carnavalet. Courtesy of ParisMusées 179

23 Rembrandt, Philosopher in Mediation, 1632. Louvre, © RMN/Art Resource, NY 183

24 Jean-Marie Vien, Susanna and the Elders, 1743–44. Photo: Alamy 186

25 Gerard Ter Borch the Younger, Curiosity, ca. 1660, The Jules Bache Collection, 1949. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 191

26 Antoine Coypel, Baptism of Christ, ca. 1690. Courtesy of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art 196

27 J.-B. Greuze, La Live de Jully, 1759. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington / Samuel H. Kress Collection 198

28 Étienne de Lavallée-Poussin, etching, Watelet, Marguerite Lecomte and others viewing a waterfall at Tivoli, 1764. The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1975. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 201

29 François Boucher, Venus asking Vulcan for arms for Aeneas, 1732. Musée du Louvre. © RMN/Art Resource, NY 202

30 Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre, The Abduction of Europa, 1750, 8 × 9 ft (244 × 276 cm) Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Mrs. John B. O’Hara Fund, 1989.133.FA. Courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art 204

31 Claude-Henri Watelet, etching after C.-N. Cochin II, S.-C. Boutin, 1752. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, gift of John O’Brien 207

32 Jacques-Philippe Le Bas, engraving after Vernet, Port de mer d’Italie (1750). Courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Arts 213

33 Jean-Marc Nattier, Mme Geoffrin, 1738. Tokyo, Fuji Art Museum, Bridgeman Images 222

34 Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Dog with porcelain bowl of water, ca. 1751. Dépôt du musée du Louvre. © Christian Schryve. Courtesy of the Musée de la Vénerie, Senlis 223

35 Étienne Fessard, etching after Augustin de Saint-Aubin, View of the Chapel of the Enfans Trouvées in Paris painted by Charles Natoire and Mrs. Brunetti père and fils, 1759. Musée Carnavalet. Courtesy of ParisMusées 224

36 Jean-François Charles, Head of a Virgin, 1759 aquatint: “Peint par sa Majesté d’après le Tableau de J. M. Vien Ptr du Roy.” © The Trustees of the British Museum 229

37 Carle Van Loo, Une Conversation, 1754. Hermitage Museum. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY 234

38 Carle Van Loo, La Lecture, Hermitage Museum, begun 1755. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY 237

39 Laurent Guiard and workshop of Julien Le Roy, ca. 1757–1760, gilt bronze mantel clock, figure cast from Guiard’s 1754 design for Mme Geoffrin. Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 239

40 Vien, La douce Mélancolie, 1756. Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art 241

41 Carle Van Loo, Offering to Love, 1761. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 1979–186. Photo: Allen Philipps/Wadsworth Atheneum 243

42 Vien, La vertueuse Athénienne, ca. 1762. Photo: Musées de Strasbourg, M. Bertola. Courtesy of the Musées de Strasbourg 249

43 Beauvarlet, after Vien’s Offering to Venus of ca. 1762. Courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums 250

44 Joseph Vernet, La Bergère des Alpes, 1761. © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours, cliché Dominique Couineau. Courtesy of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours 254

45 François Boucher, Dispatch of the Messenger, 1765. Gift of Mrs. Joseph Heine, in memory of her husband, I. D. Levy, 1944. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 258

46 Beauvarlet, etching and engraving after Boucher’s Arrival of the Messenger in the 1765 Salon. Bequest of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1966. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 259

47 Boucher, Are they thinking of the lamb? 1764. Private collection 260

48 Hubert Robert, Mme Geoffrin in her bedchamber, ca. 1774. Bridgeman Images 263

49 Hubert Robert, Mme Geoffrin’s bedchamber, sanguine, black chalk on paper, ca. 1774. Photo: Bulloz. Courtesy of Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valence 264

50 François-Hubert Drouais, Henry Edward Fox, ca. 1763. Bridgeman Images 266

51 Hubert Robert, Mme Geoffrin lunching at the Abbaye de Saint-Antoine, 1773. Private collection 268

52 Hubert Robert, Mme Geoffrin strolling at the Abbaye de Saint-Antoine, 1773. Private collection 270

53 Louis Lagrenée the Elder, Virgin and Child with Infant St. John and a Lamb, 1764. Courtesy of the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe 273

54 Lagrenée the Elder, Education of the Virgin, 1773. Photo: Alamy 274

55 Hubert Robert, Mme Geoffrin in her cabinet de compagnie, black chalk on paper, ca. 1774. Photo: Bulloz. Courtesy of the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valence 276

56 Hubert Robert, Mme Geoffrin having breakfast in her cabinet de compagnie, ca. 1774. Private Collection, France. Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY 277