Beschreibung:

PIERRE-PAUL PRUD'HON (FRENCH 1758-1823)
APOLLO AND THE MUSES ON MOUNT PARNASSUS
Oil on canvas
54.5 x 64cm (21¼ x 25 in.)
Provenance:
Albert Joliet, Dijon
Baron d'Olonne, Paris;
Matthiesen, Ltd., London, by 1956
Paul Drey Gallery, New York
Sale, Sotheby's, New York, 22 May 1986, lot 2
Dr. Claus Virch Collection, New York
Exhibited:
Paris, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Petite Palais, Pierre Paul Proud'hon, 1922, p. 4, no.9
Literature:
Jean Guiffrey: L'oeuvre de Pierre-Paul Prud'hon in Archives de L'Art Francias. vol. XIII, Paris, 1924 p. 36-38 for a discussion of the drawings related to this picture and the other version now in Dijon;
Advertisement supplement, The Burlington Magazine, vol. 98, no. 639, June 1956, reproduced plate VI
Prud'hon's talent manifested itself early. As a young boy he was taken under the wing of Devosge, director of the drawing school in Dijon, who recommended him to his first major patron, the baron de Joursanvault. As early as 1780 we can see the young artist applying his delight in allegory and the classical world in his "Apotheosis of Baron Joursanvault" (Dijon, musee des beaux-arts). Joursanvault sponsored Prud'hon's move to Paris and he spent 3 years (1780-83) visiting galleries and churches and enrolling in the Academie Royale although we know from his letters that he much preferred to work alone at home.
From 1783-4 he returned to Dijon in order to compete for the Prix de Rome, which he duly won. Rome was to prove pivotal to his development and subsequent success. Between 1784 and 1788 he was able to immerse himself in the art of the Eternal city and indeed to make important contacts, most notably with Canova. In Rome he was to prove assiduous in his study of the Renaissance masters and his overriding admiration of Leonardo is clearly expressed in his correspondence, although his contemporaries were to dub him France's Correggio. This period was certainly to influence the way he viewed allegory and mythology and its lasting effect can be seen throughout his work in the years to come.
After his return from Rome his reputation gradually increased despite the political upheavals that were erupting in France. He was much admired as a portraitist, gaining patrons and consequently expanding his oeuvre. Always aspiring to be a history painter, he provided designs for what has been termed the golden age of book illustration, and although relatively unknown he was sought out by the publisher Pierre Didot expressly for this purpose. Finally, during the Empire of Napoleon, Prudh'on would find the greatest favour of all from the Imperial court itself. This was the period of his grand portraits such as "Empress Josephine at Malmaison" and "Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigourd" as well as large scale mythological paintings such as "Psyche carried off by the Zephyrs". He had previously shown a sure eye for decoration in a number of projects but he was now able to create independent works on a large scale. His position was sealed in 1810 when he was appointed drawing master to the new Empress, Marie Louise. The restoration of the Bourbon monarchy did not mark a fall from favour, and indeed Prud'hon was called upon to help create the official representation of the restored monarchy. He produced even more portraits, and at the very end of his life he was commissioned by the state to produce what has become one of his most famous works, "Christ on the Cross" for the cathedral at Strasbourg (Paris, Musee du Louvre).
Apollo and the Muses on Mount Parnassus would certainly have appealed to Prud'hon as a subject. In essence the scene encompasses the ideals of classical learning through word and music and as such it became symbolic during the Renaissance of the re birth of knowledge. Prud'hon would have seen many Renaissance interpretations of this, from Raphael in Rome to Mantegna in Paris.
The present sketch is remarkable in the vivacity of the figures, the bold under drawing being clear in many passages. Drawings of individual groups of figures for this composition exist in a private collection and were illustrated in Guiffrey's 1924 monograph. Indeed these drawings were then copied by Boilly (1) and were subsequently published as lithographs (2).
In terms of Prud'hon's oeuvre, the present work is reminiscent of a number of allegorical and decorative schemes he produced in the period following his return from Rome. The decoration of the Hotel de Lannoy is the most famous of these schemes and was intended as a full cycle representing in essence the liberal arts through classical models. This work was followed by a period in which he expressed the aims and ambitions of the revolution in a series of allegories deeply rooted in the classical past.
Dr Christoph Vogtherr, on examining the picture, has proposed that it could be a modello for a theatre curtain. Set designs were certainly produced by major artists and during the Napoleonic period such spectacles were as expected as the lavish court ceremonies that were staged throughout the reign. There is a 19th century copy of the work in the Musee des Beaux Arts in Dijon, at one time attributed to Prud'hon it was already viewed as a copy in the early years of the last century.
1) Julien-Leopold Boilly, Terpsichore and Erato, drawing, black and white pencil on paper, Paris, Louvre, inv. no. RF 4637
2) Julien-Leopold Boilly, Apollo and the Muses, lithograph, Washington, National Gallery of Art, inv. no. 2011.139.54
Condition Report:
The canvas has been relined, and presents surface dirt and craquelure. Scattered retouching throughout. Rubbing and abrasions to the edges. The paint layer to the trees is starting to wear thin.
Condition Report Disclaimer