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Lot Essay
Cette esquisse d’une grande spontanéité, d’une technique graphique typique pour Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, associant la pierre noire et la craie blanche sur papier bleu, est préparatoire à l’une de ses grandes commandes royales réalisée en 1820 pour le maître-autel de la chapelle royale du Palais des Tuileries. Le tableau (2.16 x 1.49 m) est conservé au musée du Louvre depuis 1848 (inv. 7339). Sylvain Laveissière, lors de la rétrospective Prud’hon en 1997 répertorie six études préparatoires d’ensemble pour cette grande composition dont deux dessins sur papier bleu, l’un au musée du Louvre (fig. 1 ; inv. 32585) et l’autre au Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York (inv. 37.165.105), une esquisse connue par une photographie en noir et blanc de localisation inconnue (S. Laveissière, Prud’hon ou le rêve du bonheur, cat. exp., Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, et New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997-1998, fig. 208a) et trois esquisses peintes : à la Wallace Collection de Londres (inv. P.272), au musée Thomas-Henry de Cherbourg et en collection particulière (ibid., figs. 208b, 208c, 208d).
Le détail de la ronde de putti qui encadre la Vierge dans la partie basse de la composition disparaît dans le tableau final mais est encore présent sur les esquisses peintes de la Wallace Collection et de Cherbourg.
Fig. 1 : P.-P. Prud’hon, Assomption de la Vierge, pierre noire et craie blanche sur papier bleu, Paris, musée du Louvre.
This spontaneous and energetic sketch, which Prud’hon executed using his characteristic technique of black and white chalk on blue paper, is a preparatory drawing for one his important royal commissions, a painting created in 1820 for the high alter of the royal chapel at the Palais des Tuileries. The work (2.16 x 1.49 m) has been in the collection of the Louvre since 1848 (inv. 7339). Sylvain Laveissière, on the occasion of the Prud’hon retrospective in 1997, noted six preparatory studies made for this large composition, of which two are executed on blue paper. One is in the collection of the Louvre (fig. 1; inv. 32585), and the other version is conserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. 37.165.105). There is another sketch, known by a black-and-white photograph, whose whereabouts are currently unknown (S. Laveissière, Prud’hon ou le rêve du bonheur, cat. exp., Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, and New York, Metropolitan Musuem of Art, 1997-1998, fig. 208a). Three other painted sketches also exist, conserved respectively in the Wallace Collection in London (inv. P.272), at the Musée Thomas-Henry in Cherbourg, and in a private collection (ibid., figs. 208b, 208c, 208d).
The round of putti that frames the Virgin in the lower part of the composition does not appear in the final painting, but it does figure in the oil sketches in the Wallace Collection and in the museum in Cherbourg.
Le détail de la ronde de putti qui encadre la Vierge dans la partie basse de la composition disparaît dans le tableau final mais est encore présent sur les esquisses peintes de la Wallace Collection et de Cherbourg.
Fig. 1 : P.-P. Prud’hon, Assomption de la Vierge, pierre noire et craie blanche sur papier bleu, Paris, musée du Louvre.
This spontaneous and energetic sketch, which Prud’hon executed using his characteristic technique of black and white chalk on blue paper, is a preparatory drawing for one his important royal commissions, a painting created in 1820 for the high alter of the royal chapel at the Palais des Tuileries. The work (2.16 x 1.49 m) has been in the collection of the Louvre since 1848 (inv. 7339). Sylvain Laveissière, on the occasion of the Prud’hon retrospective in 1997, noted six preparatory studies made for this large composition, of which two are executed on blue paper. One is in the collection of the Louvre (fig. 1; inv. 32585), and the other version is conserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. 37.165.105). There is another sketch, known by a black-and-white photograph, whose whereabouts are currently unknown (S. Laveissière, Prud’hon ou le rêve du bonheur, cat. exp., Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, and New York, Metropolitan Musuem of Art, 1997-1998, fig. 208a). Three other painted sketches also exist, conserved respectively in the Wallace Collection in London (inv. P.272), at the Musée Thomas-Henry in Cherbourg, and in a private collection (ibid., figs. 208b, 208c, 208d).
The round of putti that frames the Virgin in the lower part of the composition does not appear in the final painting, but it does figure in the oil sketches in the Wallace Collection and in the museum in Cherbourg.