Religious Scene with Figure Receiving the Habit

This watercolor, originally mounted on a single mat with 2009.259B but now separate, entered the Morgan Library & Museum under the name Jean-Louis-Marie Prudhomme. Nothing is known of Prudhomme as an artist, though he was a renowned librarian and journalist during the French Revolution. He narrowly escaped execution during the Reign of Terror because of his pro-royalist writings. These two highly finished watercolors were perhaps preparatory for one of Prudhomme's many publications. The scene depicted in this drawing features a kneeling young man receiving a black habit from a monk in a landscape.