Pierre-Paul Prud'hon
French, 1758-1823
The Triumph of Bonaparte
INV-1514
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon
French, 1758-18231801
The Triumph of Bonaparte
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon French, 1758-1823 →chalkdrawings (visual works)
Date
1801
Medium
Black chalk with stumping, heightened with touches of white chalk, on blue laid paper, laid down on ivory Japanese paper
Dimensions
35 × 63 cm (13 13/16 × 24 13/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
The Triumph of Bonaparte celebrates the French defeat of Austria and the signing of the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. Napoleon, as first consul of the Republic, stands in a chariot flanked by Victory and Peace. The Muses precede the chariot, while the Arts—painting, sculpture, and architecture—follow behind. A work of unbridled propaganda, the drawing is also a call for Napoleon to support the arts.
Prud’hon’s idiosyncratic style blends a frieze-like arrangement of figures and overt references to ancient Rome (hallmarks of the period’s classicizing tendencies) with a soft sensuality inspired by Leonardo da Vinci and other Italian Renaissance masters.
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