Description

Paris, J. [L.] Boilly, 1820. Engraved, tinted broadsheet (36.3 x 27.3 cm). = A rarely-seen portrait of the French mineralogist and chemist René Just Haüy (1743-1822), commonly known as Abbé Haüy after he became a Roman Catholic priest and was made an honorary canon of Notre Dame in Paris. Due to his innovative work on crystal structure and his four-volume Traité de Minéralogie (1801), he is often, and rightfully, referred to as the 'Father of Modern Crystallography'. During the French revolution he also helped to establish the metric system, Haüy is also known for his observations on pyroelectricity (he detected pyroelectricity in calamine, an oxide of zinc, as early as 1785) and studied the polarization of light (see, e.g., Wikipedia). The artist, Julien-Léopold Boilly (1796-1874) was noted for his album of lithographs, Iconographie de l'Institut royal de France ou collection des portraits des Membres composant les quatre académies depuis 1814 jusqu'en 1825 (1820-1825). His portraits are much less stiff and formal than many by his contemporaries. Signed by the artist in the lower left margin of the portrait. The caption states the date of Haüy's birth and the year (1795) in which he was elected as a member of the Institut. Uncut. Scattered, mild foxing; some denting and creasing, mainly in the margins; left edge with two short tears, the tinted surface a bit unevenly toned; otherwise very good.