Denis Diderot , born the October 5th 1713 with Langres and dead the July 31st 1784 with Paris, is a writer, Philosophe and Encyclopédiste French.

Biographical reference marks

Twenty years of its engagement in the work of the Lumières are indissociable completed work around l' Encyclopédie or reasoned Dictionary of sciences, arts and the trades . For all the details concerning the genesis, the contents and the leading adventures of this work, we return to the article which is devoted to him.

  • October 5th 1713: birth with Langres in a middle-class family cutlers.

He is pupil with the college of the Jesuits of the city.
  • 1728 : at 15 years, Diderot refuses with the ecclesiastical career for which his/her father intended it and goes to Paris.
The first 10 years of its Parisian life are badly known. It seems that he studies philosophy with the Collège of Harcourt until 1732. It carries out a bohemian life and saw translations, small employment and tricks intended to force the financial support of his father.
  • 1742 : meet with Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
  • 1743 : marriage with Anne-Toinette Champion, linen maid, without the agreement of his/her parents, requested a few months earlier with the favor of a voyage in Langres.
  • 1745 : meet Condillac.
  • 1746 : publication of the philosophical , immediately condemned Thought .
  • 1747 : beginning of the Encyclopedia, with Jean d' Alembert.
  • 1749 : the positions materialists of the Lettre on the blind men with the use of those which see involve its arrest and imprisonment with the Château of Vincennes for four months. Meet Frederic Melchior Grimm.
  • 1750 : Diderot is named with the royal Academy of sciences and the beautiful letters of Berlin. Publication of the Leaflet of the Encyclopedia .
  • 1753 : birth of his/her daughter Marie-Angelica, only child who will survive to him.
  • 1754 - 1755: The courses of chemistry of Round slice follow. It settles Rue Taranne.
  • 1755 : Diderot meets Sophie Volland, amante for the life.
  • 1759 : death of his/her father. First stay in Grandval, on the invitation of D' Holbach.
  • 1760 : Diderot, under the name of Dortidius, is ridiculed in the part of Charles Palissot de Montenoy the Philosophers .
  • 1762 : Catherine II of Russia buys its library in life annuity, pretext to support its philosophical work.
  • 1765 (July): Diderot finishes the drafting of the Encyclopédie with a certain bitterness due to the lack of recognition, the mistakes of the edition and the behavior of the editors - Breton the in particular.
  • Starting from 1769, Grimm more largely entrusts the direction of the literary Correspondance to Diderot and Madam d' Epinay.
  • August with mid-September 1770: travel to Langres to organize the marriage of his/her daughter with Abel-François Caroillon de Vandeul.
  • Sept. 9 1772: marriage of his/her daughter.
  • June 11th, 1773 - Oct. 21, 1774: travel to Saint-Pétersbourg. Travel physically testing with two long halts in Holland. Meet and discussions with Catherine II. The conditions of this voyage will certainly have curtailed its life of a few years. As of its return, it slows down its social life and its health is degraded, gradually.
  • 1776: long stays in Sevres and Granval.
  • 1778: probable but at the very least discrete meetings with Voltaire.
  • 1779: 3 months stay to Sevres, with its wife and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Billard. He escapes however three weeks to devote itself to Madam de Maux, his mistress.
  • April 30th, 1780: Langres organizes a large inaugural banquet of the bust of Diderot carried out by Houdon, that the philosopher has just offered to the city.
  • 1781: He collaborates a little in the methodical Encyclopédie of Panckoucke and Naigeon. He gathers his works, puts order. Its health declines; it accepts it badly.
  • 1783: Diderot puts order in its texts. He works to establish three copies of his works: for him, for his/her daughter and the last for Catherine II.
  • 1784: stays with Sevres.
  • February 22nd, 1784: death of Sophie Volland.
  • March 15th, 1784: premature death of its grand-daughter. That will be perhaps hidden to him.
  • June 1st, 1784: removal with the 39 Street of Richelieu in Paris, with the good care of Grimm and Catherine II which wished to avoid to him the 4 stages of staircase of its home of the Rue Taranne.
  • July 31st 1784: death in its residence. It is autopsy with its request. It is buried with the church Saint-Roch, in the vault of the Virgin, on August 1st. The tombs of the church were profaned with the Révolution and the bodies thrown to the common grave. Its burial thus disappeared.
  • June 1786: its library and its files are sent to Saint-Petersbourg.
  • April 10th, 1796: death of its wife.
  • December 2nd, 1824: death of his/her daughter Marie-Angelica.

Its entourage

The analysis of the entourage of Diderot underlines, as much as the diversity of its work, its eclectic side. The characters taken again here did not maintain of course all the same relationship with Diderot: if all had an impact on its life or its work, these contacts could be fed only sporadically or punctually.

Writers and philosophers

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Diderot meets Rousseau at the end of 1742; a strong friendship is born between the two men. It is undoubtedly Rousseau which presents it to Condillac. It is on the road which leads it in visit to Diderot locked up to Vincennes that it to the famous illumination which will inspire the Discours to him on sciences and arts . Diderot itself is not foreign besides with certain ideas of the text. Starting from 1757 the ideas of the two men start to diverge inter alia on the question from the value from the man in the company. The distance turns to the argument which develops until the total rupture in 1770. Rousseau counts from now on Diderot among its enemies; Diderot, preserved the bitterness of a lost friendship to him as it expresses it inter alia in its Essai on the reigns of Claude and Néron : Ask a lover misled the reason of his obstinate attachment for an infidel, and you will learn the reason from the obstinate attachment of a man of letters for a man of letters of a talent distinguished .

Jean D' Alembert

It helped Diderot in the design of the Encyclopedia.

Nickel silver Grimm

Voltaire

Diderot maintains with him a correspondence towards 1758 which testifies to a mutual respect. Voltaire took part and supported the Encyclopedia but it is not certain that the two men met.

Condillac

Artists

Its family

  • Its wife, Anne-Toinette Champion. Diderot had married Nanette without the agreement of his/her parents whom it had however left to ask Langres. It is thus allowed to imagine a love match. Reality was however different. Nanette cannot obviously follow the career of her husband. This one does not seem happy spares and multiplies the connections of them. The tensions within the couple are increasing and angers of Nanette without reserves. Diderot however always sought to protect to them his. Nanette will carry several children whose only Marie-Angelica will survive.
  • His/her daughter, Marie-Angelica. She is liked of her father and a great admiration testifies to him.
  • His/her father, Didier. The affluent of Langres, just and respected cutler. In spite of the tensions with Denis, it will transmit his concerns morals to him and an interest for the technique, which will help Diderot in its drafting of the Encyclopedia.
  • His/her brother, Didier-Pierre, had embraced the ecclesiastical career and had been strongly implied there. In this direction the relations between the two brothers will be always tended, in spite of the attempts at Denis. Didier-Pierre will refuse to come to bless the marriage of his niece. With died of Denis, he claims with his daughter his files in order to destroy them.
  • One knows few things of the sister and the mother Diderot.

Its extra-marital connections

The political world

The political world is not represented in the close relations of Diderot (see below its writings in this field). However, Diderot could benefit at various periods from more or less posted supports. At the time of his detention with Vincennes, one will note for example intervention of Madam de Pompadour and the edition of the Encyclopédie will profit from the support of Malesherbes.

Others

Diderot was in addition related to Galiani, Damilaville, of Holbach, Guillaume Monnier, the abbot Raynal, Jacques-Andre Naigeon, André Breton the.

Its work: the dialectical one

Diderot was one of the large intellectual organizers of the 18th century by its curiosity, its vast culture, its knowledge of the languages, its critical spirit and its capacity for work. Far from the search for a coherent philosophical system, Diderot gathers the ideas and opposes them. It is thus, before its personal ideas, especially an incentive with the reflection which emerges from its work. This step, volunteer, find themselves in the form of dialog which it gives to his principal works ( the Nephew of Branch , Entretiens between Diderot and D' Alembert , Supplément with the Voyage of Bougainville …) with this characteristic that none the characters represents with him only the thought of the author. This plurality is found besides in its titles ( the thoughts , the principles ,…). When it does not conceive a dialog, it answers - this was fictitiously -, adds ( Supplément with the voyage of Bougainville ), refutes ( Réfutation of Helvetius ). Diderot also frequently works over again its texts and, even, in second half of its life, writes some Additions (with the philosophical Pensées , with the Lettre on the blind men ,…) to give an account of the evolution of its own reflections.

The main part of the texts of Diderot are available in Wikisource, on Gallica like on the following external sites:

  • Bibliography and texts of Diderot
  • Texts of Diderot
  • Texts of Diderot in numerical reading
The chapter devoted to the reception and the posterity of Diderot sigale also principal editions of its complete works. Lastly, for a detailed study of the material bibliography of Diderot, one will consult with interest: David Adams, Bibliography of works of Denis Diderot 1739 - 1900 , international Center of study of the 18th century, 2000, 2 vol., ISBN 2-84559-009-1. This work was the subject of a criticism here.

Writer

As a writer of fiction, Diderot was illustrated in the novel and, to a lesser extent with the theater. In the novels, Diderot is critical of its time. He invents a new theatrical kind, the middle-class Drame (whose paternity was also asserted by Beaumarchais). It is a kind where with a great realism the dominant concerns of the middle-class prevail: work and the family.

Prose: novels, tales and dialogs

Theater

  • the natural Son or Tests of the virtue , comedy followed by the Talks on the natural Son (1757)
  • the Father , drama (1758)
  • Various not succeeded projects.

Philosopher

Rather than philosopher, Diderot is before a whole thinker. It indeed continues neither the creation of a complete philosophical system, nor any coherence: it calls in question, clarifies a debate, raises the paradoxes, lets evolve/move its ideas, notes its own evolution but section little (see Dialectique at Diderot, above). In the middle of the philosophical work of Diderot are its reflections, crossings, on the Matérialisme and the faith.

Moralist

Morals is a recurring concern of Diderot. The topic appears in its artistic criticisms (see below), in its theater (see above) and in some texts (tales and dialogs), written in 1771-1772, around the topic of morals, inspired by a return in its native area, impregnated moral uprightness of his/her father deceased.

Encyclopedist

Starting from 1747, at 34 years, Diderot directs and writes, with D' Alembert, the Encyclopédie or reasoned Dictionary of sciences, arts and the trades . It will be invested in the drafting, the collation, research, the realization of the boards of 1750 - 1765. It personally wrote the leaflet (appeared in 1750) and more than one thousand of articles, among which: “Political authority”, “Cap”, “Encyclopedia”, “Art”, “Christianity”, “Citizen”, “Eclecticism”, “Philosophy”, “Beautiful”,… Some of these articles are included in WikiSource.

Critical

Diderot undertook an important activity of Critique published especially in the literary, philosophical and critical Correspondance . Diderot is convinced of the moral role of the Art, the Théâtre and the Peinture in particular.

Painting: the Living rooms

In 1759, at the request of Nickel silver Grimm, Diderot returns account for the literary Correspondance of the works exposed to the Art gallery of the royal Académie of painting and sculpture. Taken with the play and convinced of the moral function of the art and the development of the taste, it will write in very nine Salons of 1759 with 1781. The development of its technical training will gradually enrich the content by these reports. These Salons remained confidential of alive sound because the very free tone of its criticism did not allow that they were published. Today however the importance of these writings is largely recognized and Diderot is regarded as pioneer of the criticism of Article.

  • the Tests on painting are in fact an appendix of the Living room of 1765 (Corr. 1766).

  • Thought detached on painting, the sculpture, architecture and poetry (Corr., as from February 1772).

Bibliography:

  • Stephan Lojkine, the revolted Eye: Living rooms of Diderot , ED. Jacqueline Chambon, Paris, 2007. ISBN 978-2742772513.
  • Arnold Julie Wegner, Art Criticism ace Narration: Diderot' S Living room of 1767 , New York, Bern, Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris and Vienna, Peter Lang, coll “Old The off Revolution and Romanticism: Interdisciplinary Studies”, 13,1995. ISBN 0-8204-2662-8.

Literature

Diderot wrote many reports of readings for the literary, philosophical and critical Correspondance . But it also wrote several works or “postface” with critical range which treat its designs of the theater or authors in particular.

  • Speech on dramatic poetry (1758), theories on the theater accompanying the Father .
  • Praise of Richardson , (1762)
  • On Terence , (par. 15/07/1765) in the gazette of Suard.
  • Paradox on the actor (réd. 1773 - 1777).

Policy

Diderot was implied little concretely in the political debates of its time. However some works give an account of its political philosophy. One can divide them in two groups. On the one hand works of order and contributions to the work of others and on the other hand strictly personal texts that it rather writes at the end of its life, as from 1770. It will be made a duty share its ideas with Catherine II at the time of her voyage to Saint-Pétersbourg.

Two principal ideas are certainly the rejection of the despotism and the role of teaching (not monk) in the happiness and the development of the company.

  • Letter on the trade of the books (1763)

  • Apology for the abbot Galiani , following the Dialogs on the trade of the corns (see Contributions) (1770)
  • Letter of Mr. Diderot on the Examination of the test on the prejudices , more known under the title Pages against a tyrant (1770) in reaction to the work of D' Holbach the test on the prejudice or Of the influence of the opinions on manners and the happiness of the men .
  • Abdication of a king of broad bean or the éleuthéromanes (réd. 1772, ED. 1796)
  • Thought detached or escaped political Fragments of the wallet of a philosopher (Corr. 1772)
  • Observations on the Nakaz , in connection with the reforms of Catherine II (1774)
  • Principles of policies of the sovereigns (1774)
  • Plane of a university (réd. 1775). It is about an ideal plan of the studies ordered by Catherine II. Transmitted via Grimm, it never seems to have read it, with the great regret of Diderot.
  • Test on the life of Sénèque or Test on the reigns of Claude and Néron (ED. 1778, altered in 1780).
  • With the insurgents of America (1782)

One will also find, in the Voyage in Holland (see below) reflections on the political organization of the United Provinces, inevitably compared with the French system.

Sciences

  • Memories on various subjects of mathematics (1748)
  • Elements of physiology (réd. starting from 1774, not completed)
  • Introduction to chemistry , notes of course (1757)

Bibliography

  • Anne Masseran, the courtesan against the experimentative one: images of science in works of Diderot

Contributions

  • System of nature of D' Holbach
  • Dialogs on the trade of the corns , the abbot Galiani (1770)
  • Catilina of François Tronchin. Diderot works on this text in April 1775 and focusing at the point of having changes some to transform the title of it into Terentia .
  • philosophical and political History of the two Indies , the abbot Raynal. Diderot will work With Raynal as of the first edition of 1770 but will contribute especially to the third, of 1780. The reception is mitigated because the work is very committed against slavery, colonialism and the despotism. Grimm itself will criticize the work. Wounded in its friendship, Diderot will write its apologetic Letter of the Raynal abbot to Mr Grimm.
  • History of Madam de Montbrillant of Louise d' Épinay (ED. in 1818).

Translations

  • Test on the merit and the virtue , written by Shaftesbury, French translation and annotations of Diderot (1745). See on this subject: Rene P. Legros, Diderot and Shaftesbury. In: The Modern Language Review, vol. 19, No 2 (Apr., 1924), pp. 188-194.
  • universal Dictionary of medicine of Robert James, 1746-1748.
  • the apology for Socrate of Plato (translation undertaken in captivity with Vincennes, 1749)
  • History of Greece , 1743 of Mr. Temple Stanyan

Others

  • Voyage in Holland (réd. 1773 - 1774, Corr. 1780/1782), account and notes of voyage.
  • On the women (Corr. July 1st 1772)
  • Letter with the countess of Forbach on the education of the children (réd. towards 1772)
  • Refutation of Helvétius (réd. 1773 - 1778, Corr. 1783 - 1786)
  • One will discover Diderot, man, writer and thinker through the 187 preserved letters of its correspondence with its amante, Sophie Volland. See on this subject: Hubert June, '' Diderot: love letters ''. In: '' Literary Magazine '' n° 204 (February 1984). In one of them, dated October 1st, 1768 Diderot enriched the French language by the word: Pun (see Ferdinand BRUNOT T. 6,2, p. 1315).
  • On the immortality of the artist, art and the posterity, one will read his correspondence with Falconet.
  • apologetic Letter of the Raynal abbot to Mr Grimm (réd. 1780).
  • One allotted to him wrongly, the Code of nature of Morelly and Mémoire for Abraham Chaumeix of Andre Morellet.

Adaptations of works of Diderot

  • Jacques Rivette: the Nun , with Anna Karina… See: Card-index imdb
  • Sandrine Rinaldi: Mystification or the history of the portraits , with Lucia Sanchez…
  • the scenario writer Robert Bresson carried out in 1945 the film the Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne , according to an episode of Jacques the fatalist , the history of Madam of Pommeraye. The dialogs of film were written by Jean Cocteau.
  • Jacques the Fatalist, adapted by Roland Ravez and Daniel Scahaise, put in scene by Daniel Scahaise, played by Jaoued Deggouj (Jacques), Jean-Henri Comp2ere (his Master), with the Theater of the Place of the Martyrs to Brussels from January 10th to February 17th, 2007.
  • Jacques and his Master , part written in 1970 by Milan Kundera which prolongs and returns to homage to Jacques the Fatalist .

Posterity and critical reception

Diderot, untiring worker, hoped for only the recognition of the posterity. On this subject, one will read in particular his correspondence with Falconet.

The image of Diderot evolved/moved with time in particular because its work was revealed in a progressive way and the essence (qualitatively) of its work was published after its death. The publication date of its works is sometimes extremely far away from the date of drafting. A big part of its work, whose major texts like Jacques the Fatalist and the Nephew of Branch , was published only after his death; certain texts having even appeared only at the 20th century. This spreading out has multiple causes.

Censure and imprisonment

The censure of 18th and its sanctions resigned the too daring authors to prudence. In 1749, its " Letter on the aveugles" is worth to him to be locked up 4 months with the Château of Vincennes. After this testing experiment physically and psychologically, it will distinguish works respecting, at least superficially, the dogmas of its time, being able to be published of alive sound, of the works only intended for the posterity. This strategy, current in the philosophical Left, is called the interior doctrines by Rousseau in its Confessions .

Literary Correspondence

It is necessary to distinguish the publication limited assured to the text appeared in the literary Correspondence Grimm of the publication in volumes: the public reached is not the same one. For this reason, in so far as to make may be, one distinguishes for each work the date from drafting, publication in the literary Correspondence and the edition in volume.

Departure of the manuscripts in Russia

In 1762, Catherine II of Russia buys in Diderot its personal library in life annuity. Diderot kept the use of it and a revenue of alive sound, as a librarian, but, to his death, its manuscripts and its volumes were transferred to Saint-Pétersbourg. It is only the patient work of the scientists and impassioned which made it possible to discover, gradually, the work and the thought of Diderot. Thus, it will be noticed that Diderot prepares in 1782 a complete edition of its works with his/her friend Naigeon. This edition will appear only in 1798 and will count only 15 volumes. However the editions of Brières (1821) and Assézat (1875) exceed the score of volumes.

The role of his/her daughter

Catholic and preserving, his daughter undoubtedly has, in spite of the admiration which it dedicated to her father, sought to direct the publication of its works, " corrigeant" if necessary the texts which did not respect enough its values.

Eleuthéromanes

In 1796 appears the Abdication of a king of broad bean or the éleuthéromanes . The public holds of the passages of this text for persons in charge of certain excesses of the French revolution and breaks out against Diderot. This text will thus tarnish the reputation of Diderot and will put it at the purgatory authors for all the 19th century.

Conclusion

Its contemporaries knew primarily Diderot like the editor of the Encyclopédie , the promoter of a new theatrical kind (the “middle-class drama” or “comedy larmoyante”, precursor of the dramatic theater) and the author of a novel libertine ( indiscreet Jewels ) and of some criticized philosophical texts. At the 19th century, Diderot will be relatively ignored. It is necessary in makes wait the bicentenary of its birth to meet an renewed interest and to have a vision considered as complete of its writings. Thus the knowledge of its work develops with time and complete Works of the philosophers, are complementary from one edition to another.

  • 1772, (?) Amsterdam, At Marc-Michel Rey, 6 vol.

  • 1773, London (i.e. Bubble?)? Typographical company, 5 vol.
  • Year VIII (1800), Jacques-Andre Naigeon, 15 volumes in-8 (+-15 cm in height).
  • 1821, J. - L. Brière, of 22 volumes, with the Mémoires of Naigeon on Diderot .
  • 1830, Paulin, 4 volumes.
  • 1854, François Génin, at Didot, 2 volumes in-12.
  • 1875, J. Assézat, 23 volumes. Consultable via http://gallica.bnf.fr/
  • 1975-…, J. Fabre, H. Dieckmann, J. Proust, J. Varloot, Paris, ED. Hermann, (36 vol. envisaged)
  • 1985, Works, Paris, Gallimard, (coll Pleiad).
  • 1994-1997, Laurent Versini, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1994 - 1997, (coll Book), 5 vol.
  • 2005-…, Paris, Gallimard, (coll Pleiad), (4 vol. envisaged).

Places of Diderot

Diderot was a sedentary. He hardly liked the voyages.

Langres

Diderot was born place Chambeau, n° 9 with Langres. The building always exists. The ground floor is occupied by a newsagent (be 2007). In height, on the frontage, the city affixed a plate announcing the birth of the philosopher. The place was famous Diderot place at the time of the centenary of its death and decorated with its effigy by Frederic Bartholdi. Diderot leaves Langres for Paris in 1728 and will not return there any more but for some imperative reasons:
  • 1742/1743: to request the authorization to marry - refusal.
  • 1759: to regulate the succession of his/her father deceased.
  • 1770: preparation of the marriage of his/her daughter.

Paris

  • Poor during its first Parisian years, Diderot frequently moves.
  • 1743: it settles street Saint-Victor with his wife.
  • 1746: the couple moves street Traversière (become Rue Rotrou).
  • Removal towards the Street Mouffetard.
  • In 1749, it is on the second floor of the n°3 of the Rue of Estrapade that it is stopped and carried out for a few months to the Château of Vincennes.
  • Of 1754 to 1784 Diderot occupies 4th and 5th stage of a home of the Rue Taranne. The house of Diderot would have been located at the level of the n°149 of current the Boulevard Saint-Germain. A statue recalls it to the level of number 145.
  • A few weeks before its death, Catherine II rents to him a housing in the hotel of Bezons, 39 Rue of Richelieu, close it Royal palace to save to him the rise of the 4 floors of the building of the Rue Taranne. The frontage of the hotel always exists.
  • has its death, it rests a time with the church Saint-Roch, in the vault of the Virgin. This one will be plundered with the Revolution and the bodies thrown to the common grave.

Stays

  • Castle of Grandval with Sucy-in-Brie in his/her friend the baron d' Holbach, in October 1759, then in October 1760, in November 1775 and in August 1780.
  • In 1755, it also remains with the castle of the Isle-on-Marne.
  • One also sees it with the castle of Chevrette with Mourning-the-Bars, property of Louise d' Épinay, mistress of Grimm and friend of Rousseau.
  • Sevres, street Troyon 26, in the house of his/her friend the jeweller Beautiful, where it comes to live regularly during the ten last years of his life.

The voyage to Saint-Pétersbourg: June 11th, 1773 - Oct. 21, 1774

Way outward journey : Brussels, $the Hague (séj. 15/06-20/08), Amsterdam, Utrecht, Düsseldorf (24/08), Leipzig (02/09), Memel (20/09), Riga (26/09), Narva, Saint-Pétersbourg.

Way return : Saint-Pétersbourg (3/5/1774), $the Hague (05/04), Antwerp, Brussels, Valencian, Cambric, Fibula, Roye, Senlis, Paris (21/10).

Iconography

Famous of alive sound, Diderot was often represented in painting or sculpture. Here a list - of which it is difficult to guarantee exhaustiveness - portraits of Diderot carried out of alive sound . The references are supplemented by the opinion of the model on its image, when it is known for us.

On the comments by Diderot of its own portraits, to also see:

  • Marc Buffat, Ecco it vero pulcinella in Research on Diderot and the Encyclopedia , 18-19, Oct. 1995, pp. 55-70.
  • Iconography relative to Diderot , gathered by Thierry Ottaviani.

  • Jean-Baptiste Garand, portrait, 1760
I well was never made but by one poor devil called Garand, which caught me, as it arrives at stupid which says a good mot. That which sees my portrait by Garand, sees me. (Living room of 1767). I would say only this bad bust, that one there voyaoit the traces of a sorrow of secret heart of which I was devoured when the artist did it . (Living room of 1767)
  • Marie-Anne Collot, various busts former to 1767. The last, had by Grimm, Diderot known as:
It is well, it is very well. It replaced at his place another, that its Master Mr. Falconet avoit made, and who was not well. When Falconet had seen the bust of its pupil, it took a parteau, and broke to it his in front of it. . (Living room 1767). My children, I warn you that it is not me. (...) I had in one day hundred various physonomies, according to the things of which I étois affected (...); but I was never such as you see me there . (Living room of 1767).
  • Louis Michel van Loo, drawing on brown paper, without date, Louvre (Paris)
  • Jean-Baptiste Greuze, drawing, 1767 , Tournus, Greuze museum.
  • Anna Dorothea Therbusch, representation of Diderot barechested, towards 1767 . The original portrait seems to be lost but it was reproduced out of enamel by Pierre Pasquier (artist) and then engraved by Pierre François Bertonnier for the Briére edition of Works of Diderot. Brière offered enamel of Pasquier to Mr. François Guizot. The engraving of Bertonnier is included in M. - C. Sahut, NR. Flown, Diderot and the art of Stopping with David, catalog exposure Mint, October 5th, 1984 - January 6th, 1985 , Paris, Éditions of the Meeting of national museums ISBN 2711802833.
Its other portraits are cold, without other deserves that of the resemblance, except mine, which resembles, where I am naked to the belt, and which, for the pride, the flesh, to do it, is extremely above Roslin and any portraitist of the Academy. I placed it opposite that of Van Loo, which it played a nasty trick. It was if striking, that my daughter said to me that she would have kissed it hundred times during my absence, if she did not have fears to spoil it. The chest was painted très-chaudement, with completely true passages and flat parts (Living room of 1767).
  • Jean Honoré Fragonard, oil on fabric, towards 1769 , museum of Louvre.
  • Jean-Antoine Houdon, bust, 1771 , Museum of Louvre
  • Jean-Antoine Houdon, bust, towards 1771 , Troyes, museum of the fine arts
  • Marie-Anne Collot, marble bust, 1772 , museum of the Hermitage.
  • Jean Huber , a dinner of philosophers (1772 or 1773). It is about a fictitious scene but Diderot is clearly recognizable, of profile on the right table.
  • Jean Huber , the supper of the philosophers , etching on blue paper. Fictitious scene. Although obviously inspired by the preceding table ( a dinner of philosopher ), Diderot is not also clearly recognizable, on the left table.
  • Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1773 , Langres
  • Jean Simon Berthélemy , not dated (18th century, undoubtedly after 1770), museum Carnavalet (Paris)
  • Anonymous, 18th century, museum Antoine Lécuyer (Saint-Quentin)
  • Dmitri Levitsky, 1773 or 74, portrait , Geneva, Museum of Art and History.
  • Jean-Antoine Houdon, bust, 1775 , Museum of Louvre.
  • Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, bust, 1777 , museum of Louvre
  • Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin, portrait according to Louis Michel van Loo and known according to an anonymous engraving not dated preserved at the national museum from the Franco-American Co-operation (Blérancourt).

Random links:Henri Belolo | Billy Mauch | Ignazio Dolce | Errol Bennett | Estadio Pocitos