Jean Antoine Houdon (1741–1828), Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) (1694–1778), 1778. Marble, on grey marble socle, wt. confirmed: 18 7/8 in., 39 lb. (47.9 cm, 17.7 kg). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 1972. Public domain (CC0).

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) (1694–1778)

Jean Antoine Houdon, 1778. Marble, on grey marble socle.

Front view
Front light
Sculpture

Marble bust of an elderly, smiling Voltaire facing front, lit from the front against blue cloth, showing the planes of a thin, lined face.

Open in the value study maker

The image is free to use for any purpose: the museum has released it into the public domain.

Value studies

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) (1694–1778) as a study in 2 values — **Notan, 2 values.** Split at value 5.8: 80% of the picture is dark and 20% light.

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) (1694–1778) as a study in 3 values — **3 values.** 30% dark (values 0 to 3.4), 53% middle (3.4 to 6.5) and 17% light (6.5 to 10).

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) (1694–1778) as a study in 5 values — **5 values.** From darkest to lightest: 12%, 21%, 44%, 10% and 13% of the picture.

Split at the picture's natural breaks between light and dark, with Simplify at 5, as in the value study maker. Values run from 0 (black) to 10 (white).

Palette

#5C698FValue 4.5, cool
37%
#3C4160Value 2.8, cool
19%
#202237Value 1.4, cool
12%
#ECE4DAValue 9.1, neutral
9%
#C4BAB9Value 7.6, neutral
6%
#8E8588Value 5.6, neutral
6%
#615A5EValue 3.9, neutral
6%
#778DB2Value 5.8, cool
4%

The 8 main colors run from value 1.4 to 9.1: 4 cool and 4 neutral. See warm and cool colors for how the labels are worked out.

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