Prud'hon Pierre Paul

(1758-1823)
Born April 4, 1758 in Cluny. He studied in France and Italy in 1778-1787, then settled in Paris. Public recognition has come to Prud'hon in 1803, when he received an order for execution of a number of decorative works in the Louvre. He is the patron of the Empress Josephine, in 1805, he wrote her portrait, which is now in the Louvre. Source of subjects of many works Prud'hon - Classical mythology. His paintings are painted in soft, elegant style and are characterized by subtle transfer of mood, although not always in perfect technique of execution. Among his works: Love, seduces Innocence (Paris, Louvre), Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime, Abduction of Psyche (both 1808, ibid) and Song of Psyche (Chantilly, Museum Conde). Prud'hon was not only a brilliant painter (his numerous drawings, executed in chalk on colored paper, stored in the Conde Museum at Chantilly and in the Louvre), but also one of the best portrait painters of his time. His most famous works in this genre - the portraits of Marie Marguerite Lanier, the Empress Marie Louise (1811) and Madame Jarre (1821) from the Louvre, Madame Antoni with children (1796) of the Lyon Museum of Baron and Denis (1822). Within neo-classical painting Prud'hon tends to be lyrical beginning, in contrast to the heroic style of Jacques-Louis David. Prud'hon died in Paris on February 14, 1823.