The Apotheosis of Voltaire
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The Apotheosis of Voltaire led by Truth and crowned by Glory (French: “l’Apothéose de Voltaire conduit par la Vérité et couronné par la Gloire”), also known as “The Triumph of Voltaire” (French: Le Triomphe de Voltaire) is a 1775 oil painting by Alexandre Duplessis.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
A different painting by Robert-Guillaume Dardel in the Musée Carnavalet is also often known by this title. Both compositions were reproduced as prints, probably around the time that Voltaire's remains were transferred to the Paris Pantheon with great ceremony and huge crowds in 1791.
Apotheosis compositions had been popular in Western art since the Late Renaissance, celebrating both religious and secular figures, based on classical precedents. The term means the process of "becoming a god", though by the Baroque this was not intended literally. Nonetheless, there was a certain irony in painting such a subject to honour the famous sceptic Voltaire.