# Portrait of Anne Robert Turgot, Baron of Laulne

- By: Jean Antoine Houdon (French, 1741–1828)
- Date: 1778
- Medium: Patinated plaster
- Classification: Sculpture
- Dimensions: 84.5 × 55.9 cm (33 1/4 × 22 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Edward E. Ayer Endowment in memory of Charles L. Hutchinson
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/15297)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/b5effe73-beb1-8564-863d-711935a69643/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Economist Anne Robert Turgot aimed to stabilize France’s financial situation, which had deteriorated during Louis XV’s reign. Some of Turgot’s ideas later influenced economic reforms espoused during the French Revolution, including his efforts to abolish corvée, a system of intermittent forced labor imposed on the peasant class.

In this plaster portrait, Turgot wears a curly wig fashionable for men of the period. A lace jabot—the ruffled ornamentation at the front of the shirt—pokes through his simple vest.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0