Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Venus Presenting Arms to Aeneas

Jean-Louis-Marie Prudhomme
1752-1830

Venus Presenting Arms to Aeneas

11 5/16 x 16 1/8 inches (287 X 410 mm)
Pen and brown ink and wash and watercolor on laid paper.
2009.258

The Joseph F. McCrindle Collection.

Notes
Nothing is known of Jean-Louis-Marie 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. This highly finished watercolor, which entered the Morgan Library & Museum along with two others (inv. 2009.259) was perhaps made in preparation for one of Prudhomme's many publications. The scene features a nude Venus seen from behind surrounded by the arms that she gave to Aeneas. The idealized forms and the classical draperies are in a neoclassicist style also employed by Prudhomme's contemporaries, such as Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825).
Associated names
Ysenberg-Birstein, former owner.
Bosthader, John, former owner.
McCrindle, Joseph F., former owner.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department