The state of our democracy

As the French Revolution approached, Jacques-Louis David was far from being the fervent radical he later seemed. He furthered his career by painting for the liberal nobles of Paris, with subjects that made them feel enlightened and virtuous. One painting for an important client was the portrait of famous chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and His Wife (1788.)

David was impressed by Lavoisier's scientific endeavours and his work to eradicate malaria on his country estates.  The picture shows a well-dressed but unstuffy couple, with Marie-Anne's actual hair tumbling out beneath her wig and an informal pose, with her hand on her husband's shoulder. David seems to regard, or at least portray, them as the kind of people who should be running France.

David either did not understand, or chose to overlook another side to Lavoisier, as one of France's Farmers General who collected taxes for the King, using a private army, creaming-off a large share for himself, which would have helped to pay David the 7000 livres fee for the portrait. He was also not to know of Lavoisier's role a year later, during the Revolution. As Commissioner of Gunpowder, he moved barrels of explosive to prime the guns of the Bastille, aimed at the streets of Fauborg St Antoine, the heart of radical Paris. For this, Lavoisier was executed by the guillotine in 1794.