Portrait of Alphonse Leroy

Portrait of Alphonse Leroy
ArtistJacques-Louis David
Year1783
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions72 cm × 91 cm (28 in × 36 in)
LocationMusée Fabre, Montpellier

Portrait of Alphonse Leroy is a 1783 oil-on-canvas portrait of doctor and man-midwife Alphonse Leroy by the French Neoclassical artist Jacques-Louis David. It is now in the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, which bought it in 1829.

The painting shows its subject looking towards the spectator and leaning on a closed copy of Hippocrates' Morbi mulierum, a work on women's illnesses. On the desk is a 'lampe à quinquet', invented by Leroy himself. Together the lamp and book make reference to Cesare Ripa's Iconologia, which states these are the attributes of a study.

The naturalistic attention to detail and its bright tonality show how David was influenced by Flemish painters during his 1781 stay in Flanders. One of his pupils, Jean-François Garneray, assisted in painting the hands and fabrics. The painting was first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1783.