JACQUES WILBAULT Lot n° 66

The Physics lesson Oil on canvas (Original canvas) 64.5 x 79.5 cm The Physics lesson Oil on canvas, 25.4 x 31.3 in. Seized in a moment of complicity, the two characters in our painting seem to be engaged in some kind of scientific experiment that does not fail to arouse our curiosity. Our apprentice, whose name has come down to us by oral tradition as Marie-Françoise Elmering, was part of a family originally from Germany, specialising in foundry work, which in the 18th century came to settle in the Ardennes in France in order to leave for Rouen in the 19th century. The Leiden bottle held by her brother, whose armature she is about to touch, is an electric capacitor that will give her a slight discharge. With a teasing face, Elmering places her arm on the rest of the electrical installation, her eyes fixed on the spot of the imminent shock. Our couple thus perfectly illustrates the infatuation for science that the 18th century saw. The Age of Enlightenment was the century of the Enlightenment, in particular the increased interest in physical phenomena that Abbé Nollet (1700-1770) had begun in the mid-1730s. Eager for discoveries and studies, he became a master of physics and natural history, sharing around him this taste for scientific and technical research (fig. 1). It was he who also baptized the bottle held by Miss Elmering. Although the title may seem anachronistic, Nollet was nevertheless a teacher-researcher, helping to awaken in his pupils and followers a taste for experiment. This appetite reached the king's court and we know today that if Versailles appeared as a real centre of arts and politics from the 17th century, the castle also became one of the most important scientific centres in Europe. In 1666, Louis XIV had thus asked Colbert to create the Academy of Sciences in which scholars are crowded. Finally, in 2010, the subject was given pride of place at Versailles during the very beautiful exhibition Versailles and the Scien