Pierre-Paul Prud'hon
Pierre Paul Prud'hon, gelegentl. Proudhon Pierre Paul ( born April 4, 1758 in Cluny, † February 14, 1823 in Paris) was a French painter of the transition from classicism to romanticism.
Life and work
Prud'hon was a pupil of the painter François Desvoges in Dijon. After completing his education there is Prud'hon had settled in Paris as a freelance artist, specializing in portraits. At the suggestion of his teacher Desvoges Prud'hon went to Italy in 1782 for six years. There he studied the ancient artists and the 16th century, especially the works of Leonardo and Correggio. Worked most of the time and he lived in Rome, where he became acquainted with the work of the sculptor Antonio Canova. In 1788 he returned to Paris and settled there again as an artist down. During the French Revolution Prud'hon eked out a pretty miserable life. For politics, he was not interested, and business-minded, he was not. During these years, he married and had five children with his wife.
In 1799, he managed to participate in an exhibition of the Parisian salons and draw with a drawing attention to themselves. Even during the exhibition, he was commissioned in the Louvre, a hall with a ceiling fresco, Jupiter and Diana, to make.
1800 came the painter Constance Mayer as a pupil in his studio. At this time Prud'hon's wife had been admitted for " scandalous behavior " in a closed institution. After a short time became his mistress from his student. She took care of Prud'hon's children, funded him and established important contacts with the imperial court. As Prud'hon painted 1805 Empress Joséphine, this was only made possible thanks his lover. The mediation Prud'hon as an art teacher by Marie -Louise of Austria, she led in the paths. This would " tout Paris " painted by Prud'hon. Mayer's works were often sold under the name Prud'hon, to achieve a much higher price, what the subsequent assignment of plants difficult sometimes.
1816 took the École des Beaux -Arts in Paris on the painter as a member. At this time, Prud'hon had already get asked a spacious studio available at the Sorbonne a spacious apartment. Constance Mayer lived there with him, but she was related to the maintenance of moral appearances on the same floor apartment with own studio. This he had procured as a teacher of his alleged student. On May 26, 1821 at 11 clock in the morning said goodbye to Constance Mayer of her student Sophie Duprat; Shortly afterwards she took in her studio life by the average throat. The speculation on the reasons for their suicide ranged from a broken promise of marriage to artistic self-doubt. Prud'hon presented in the following year in the exhibition of the Paris Salon of 1822, a retrospective of Constance Mayer's works to the public. He died at the age of 65 years on 16 February 1823 in Paris.
About the artwork
Prud'hon's importance lies in the fact that in contrast to Jacques Louis David, he stressed the element of painting and the effect of light. In Paris he had indeed David certainly been close to, but not taken over the stern, of drawing and sculptural style. Rather Prud'hon's painting was characterized by the momenta of the Roman Renaissance as well as the sculptor Canova and shows in the style of a particular softness and sensitivity.
Prud'hon was instrumental in the development of the classical decoration painting in Paris, which he brought to monumental effect. His portraits consistently emphasize a confident attitude of the sitter, however, give these a certain melancholy. His chalk drawings, heightened with white on tinted paper, achieve reminiscent of Correggio effect. As a master of the soft tone he mediated between Classicism and Romanticism in France and began a rediscovery of the High Renaissance. By furniture and decorative designs he also impact on the arts and crafts of the Empire.
Works (selection)
- Jupiter and Diana
- Abduction of Psyche by Zephyr
- Justice and revenge, the criminal prosecuting
- The rocking in the tree Zephyr