PRESUMED PORTRAIT OF JEAN-JOSEPH SUE (1710-1792), unsigned oil on canvas, later giltwood frame.
This beautifully crafted portrait depicts a learned physician of about 40 years of age, dressed in a simple outfit consisting of a black jacket with large buttons worn over a white shirt with a lace collar and sleeves. The figure, wearing a powdered wig, stares at the viewer with a smile and points with his right hand to a manuscript or letter. In the other hand, he holds a jar containing a human fetus preserved in fluid, labeled with the Latin phrase “Disce me noscere” (Learn to know me). He is seated at a work table in a red velvet armchair with gold studs. Behind him, a green curtain is drawn aside to reveal a library of ancient and modern medical and surgical works, whose names and titles can be read on the red or green title pieces: Hippocrates, Galen, Boerhaave, Harvey, Chirurgie des modernes*, Allen (Charles Allen?) and Hoffmann. There are also the works of the Latin poet Horatius [Flaccus; Horace]. Finally, on the work table lies volume III of Heister’s Anatomy**.
The focus is on the jar, through which the character reveals himself as an anatomist and experimenter, establishing his observations from the most direct “raw material” possible: the corpse of a fetus a few months old, preserved in the tradition of natural history collections most common in Europe at the time, and then placed in a fluid—either in a “spiritual liquor,” usually spirits of wine, or “any other liquor strong or spirituous enough to resist frost and corruption,” and sufficiently distilled to maintain a clear transparency (Daubenton pp. 172-173). By pointing to the sheet of paper on which he wrote his observations, intended to be communicated or published, he finally demonstrates the usefulness of his study and his ambitions as a writer in the service of medical knowledge.
At the forefront of French anatomists of this period, having notably dissected fetuses and having worked as a preparer of anatomical pieces, is Jean-Joseph Sue, the father (known as Sue the Younger and Sue de la Charité, 1710-1792), a famous professor-demonstrator: we can in fact discern his features, by comparing them to those of a later portrait, preserved at the Museum of Versailles, by Guillaume Voiriot***. The subject is about thirty years older—he was then over 75—but we recognize, in addition to the sober attire, the long, straight nose and the dimple in the chin.
Born in La Colle [sur-Loup] near Nice, Sue studied in Paris under Verdier and Toussaint Bordenave. He taught at the Royal School of Surgery and was a senior surgeon at the Charité Hospital; he also gave lessons in anatomy and dissection at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He is the author of numerous works on anatomy and dissections, as well as manuals for the preparation and conservation of anatomical parts: in particular an Abridged version of the anatomy of the human body, containing a “Short and exact method on how to inject and prepare fresh or dry parts” (Paris, C.F. Simon, 1748) and an Anthropotomie (Paris, Briasson, 1750; second edition 1765), which describes his methods for preserving in jars or embalming didactic parts. Sue participated in the publications of his time, providing, among others, the Royal Academy of Sciences with descriptions of his dissections, particularly of fetuses****.
His interest in the conservation of anatomical specimens went beyond academic study: he had indeed built up a cabinet containing hundreds of plates and pieces that could “pique the curiosity of a connoisseur in this genre.” The collection was considerably enriched by his son, Jean-Joseph Sue (1760-1830), father of the writer Eugène. In 1824-1825, it was installed at the École des Beaux-Arts – Alexandre Dumas reported having contemplated Mirabeau’s brain there! Forgotten and neglected, it suffered rapid deterioration and its destruction was finally ordered in 1835. Only a “ghost” remains, consisting of a single piece: a macabre 17th-century altar depicting four fetal skeletons at different stages of development (Comar).
French school
Circa 1753
Height: 100 cm
Width: 80 cm
