This print depicts an actual event from near the end of Voltaire’s life. After being too ill to appear at the opening performance of his final play, Irène, the 84-year-old author recovered enough to attend the production a few days later. As depicted here, after the play the lead actresses ceremoniously crowned a bust of Voltaire with a laurel wreath, lavished it with kisses, and improvised eulogistic verses in his honor. Voltaire appears in a box at the upper left in his most recognizable profile view, bowing in response to the adulation.