Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (French, 1758-1823)
finished with engraving by Barthélemy Roger (French, 1767-1841)
Phrosine and Mélidore
INV-1038
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (French, 1758-1823)
finished with engraving by Barthélemy Roger (French, 1767-1841)1797
Phrosine and Mélidore
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (French, 1758-1823) finished with engraving by Barthélemy Roger (French, 1767-1841) →etchingprint
Date
1797
Medium
Etching, engraving, stipple, and roulette in black on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 21.2 × 14.5 cm (8 3/8 × 5 3/4 in.); Plate: 34.3 × 25.1 cm (13 9/16 × 9 15/16 in.); Sheet: 29.2 × 21.3 cm (11 1/2 × 8 7/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Prints and Drawings Purchase Fund
Prud’hon created this print as an illustration for a 1797 edition of Gentil Bernard’s sensual and tragic poem of the same name. The young Phrosine, at right, falls in love with Mélidore, but her jealous brothers separate the two and banish Mélidore to a life as a hermit on a nearby island. Desperate to see her beloved, Phrosine swims across the channel at night, and collapses, naked, into her lover’s arms.