Constant Desbordes Painting of Jean-Louis Alibert Administering the Smallpox Vaccine ("La Vaccine"): An Historic Vaccination or Artistic Imagination?

Abstract

In 1822, France's Ministry of the Interior, concerned about dropping vaccination rates among the population, commissioned the French artist Constant Joseph Desbordes (1761-1828) to create an artwork that would educate the public about the benefits of the smallpox vaccine. The Painting that resulted is entitled: "La Vaccine" ("The Cowpox Inoculation") and a copy of it is entitled "La Vaccine au Chateau de Liancourt" ("Performing the Vaccination against Smallpox in the Chateau of Liancourt"). The highlight of the painting is its central figure, one of France's most distinguished physicians, Jean-Louis Alibert (1768-1837) performing, in dramatic fashion, the arm to arm method of smallpox vaccination that was common at that time. The painting was highly praised for bringing together, on opposite sides of the painting, persons from lower and upper socioeconomic classes, with Alibert serving as a bridge between them. The setting for the painting is a chateau and there is no evidence that a smallpox vaccination ever took place there. Thus, this painting is not a record of a specific, real-life vaccination but a celebration of vaccination itself, in an idealized artistic representation. The painting honors Alibert, a strong advocate of vaccination and demonstrates how art can impact patient education.