Lot 37
FRANCOIS GUERIN (FRENCH fl 1751-1791)
PORTRAIT OF JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)
Auction: 30 October 2019 at 13:00 GMT
Description
Oil on canvas, signed
Dimensions
76cm x 61cm (30in x 24in)
Footnote
Provenance: Jean Francois Xavier Rousseau 1738 - 1808 (cousin of the sitter); J. B. Louis Jacques Rousseau; Marius Rousseau; Antonio Alfred Marie Rousseau; Valentine Rousseau-Portalis, who married Prince Lanza Giuseppe di Scalea; Private collection, London.
Note: Rousseau's influence can be found in almost every trace of modern philosophy today. He was amongst the first modern writers to seriously attack the institution of private property, and is therefore considered a forebear of modern socialism and communism.
Rousseau questioned the assumption that the will of the majority is always correct. He argued that the goal of government should be to secure freedom, equality, and justice for all within the state, regardless of the will of the majority. He often disagreed with his fellow philosophers and several times had to seek exile abroad after falling out with the Ancient Regime in France. Despite this, history remembers him as one of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment.