Pierre-Paul Prud'hon Study for Venus and Adonis
Pierre-Paul Prud’hon
Cluny 1758 - 1823 Paris
Study for Venus and Adonis
Oil on paper laid down on canvas
21,6 x 15,6 cm ; 8½ by 6⅛ in.
Catalogue Note:
In 1810, Prud’hon received a commission from Empress Marie-Louise for a painting intended to adorn one of the salons of the Tuileries Palace. Completed by the artist in 1812, it was exhibited at the Salon, where it was relatively poorly received. Furthermore, according to Clément (Charles Clément, Prud’hon, His Life, His Works, and His Correspondence, Paris, 1872, p. 386), it was never delivered to the Empress due to the War in Russia and remained in the painter’s studio until his death. Included in the estate sale following his death in 1823, the painting was acquired a few decades later by Sir Richard Wallace and now hangs in the Wallace Collection in London (inv. P347).
The stages in the creation of this major work are relatively well known, particularly since the 1997–1998 retrospective exhibition (“Prud’hon, or the Dream of Happiness,” Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais—New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; see no. 177 in the catalog). Several preparatory drawings have been cataloged, including, on the one hand, isolated figures (see, in particular, the two magnificent sheets in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, depicting Venus (inv. 1972.48.2) and Adonis (inv. 1972.48.1)), and, on the other hand, overall studies of the composition (see, for example, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. RF 29920). An oil sketch on paper mounted on canvas, of dimensions comparable to our work, which belonged first to Sommariva and then to Eudoxe Marcille, also shows an intermediate stage—already relatively fully developed—in the composition’s evolution (private collection; see exhibition catalog, Paris–New York, 1997–1998, no. 177).
The study we present here, previously unpublished, is further—and significant—evidence of the care Prud’hon took with this prestigious commission. Executed on paper and painted with a brushstroke that is both nimble and confident, its style is comparable to that of other preparatory sketches painted by Prud’hon during the same period. In the chronology of the work’s development, however, it occupies a significant place, appearing relatively late—certainly after the “Marcille” sketch. The latter, in fact, differs significantly from the painting in the Wallace Collection: the group of angels and dogs in the foreground is different, as is Adonis’s posture, particularly his face. Finally, another figure, which would later be removed, appears in the background. Yet these elements seem to have already been modified in this sketch, placing it chronologically closer to the full-scale painting. Did Prud’hon submit an initial draft to the empress—one that she disliked, forcing him to revise his work and present this new version to her? That is the most likely scenario.
Pierre-Paul Prud’hon
Cluny 1758 - 1823 Paris
Study for Venus and Adonis
Oil on paper laid down on canvas
21,6 x 15,6 cm ; 8½ by 6⅛ in.
Catalogue Note:
In 1810, Prud’hon received a commission from Empress Marie-Louise for a painting intended to adorn one of the salons of the Tuileries Palace. Completed by the artist in 1812, it was exhibited at the Salon, where it was relatively poorly received. Furthermore, according to Clément (Charles Clément, Prud’hon, His Life, His Works, and His Correspondence, Paris, 1872, p. 386), it was never delivered to the Empress due to the War in Russia and remained in the painter’s studio until his death. Included in the estate sale following his death in 1823, the painting was acquired a few decades later by Sir Richard Wallace and now hangs in the Wallace Collection in London (inv. P347).
The stages in the creation of this major work are relatively well known, particularly since the 1997–1998 retrospective exhibition (“Prud’hon, or the Dream of Happiness,” Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais—New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; see no. 177 in the catalog). Several preparatory drawings have been cataloged, including, on the one hand, isolated figures (see, in particular, the two magnificent sheets in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, depicting Venus (inv. 1972.48.2) and Adonis (inv. 1972.48.1)), and, on the other hand, overall studies of the composition (see, for example, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. RF 29920). An oil sketch on paper mounted on canvas, of dimensions comparable to our work, which belonged first to Sommariva and then to Eudoxe Marcille, also shows an intermediate stage—already relatively fully developed—in the composition’s evolution (private collection; see exhibition catalog, Paris–New York, 1997–1998, no. 177).
The study we present here, previously unpublished, is further—and significant—evidence of the care Prud’hon took with this prestigious commission. Executed on paper and painted with a brushstroke that is both nimble and confident, its style is comparable to that of other preparatory sketches painted by Prud’hon during the same period. In the chronology of the work’s development, however, it occupies a significant place, appearing relatively late—certainly after the “Marcille” sketch. The latter, in fact, differs significantly from the painting in the Wallace Collection: the group of angels and dogs in the foreground is different, as is Adonis’s posture, particularly his face. Finally, another figure, which would later be removed, appears in the background. Yet these elements seem to have already been modified in this sketch, placing it chronologically closer to the full-scale painting. Did Prud’hon submit an initial draft to the empress—one that she disliked, forcing him to revise his work and present this new version to her? That is the most likely scenario.
