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

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.