Pierre-Paul Prud'hon

Charles-Pompée Boulanger de Boisfremont (L.353);
by descent to his daughter, Madame Power, née Émilie de Boisfremont,
her estate sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 15-16 April 1864, lot 50 (sold for 257 francs and 25 centimes to Eudoxe Marcille);
Eudoxe Marcille, Curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans;
by descent to his daughter, Madame Henri-Paul Jahan, née Françoise Eudoxie Marcille;
by descent to her daughter, Madame Pierre Chévrier, née Geneviève Jahan;
by descent to the Chévrier-Marcille Collection

Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, Exposition des oeuvres de Prud'hon au profit de sa fille, 1874, no. 344 (catalogue by E. and C. Marcille);
Paris, École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Catalogue des dessins de l'école moderne, 1884, no. 523;
Paris, Petit Palais, Exposition P.-P. Prud'hon, 1922, no. 118;
Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, 1758-1823, 1958, no. 45

E. de Goncourt, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, dessiné, gravé de P.P. Prud'hon, Paris 1876, p. 117;
J. Guiffrey, L'Oeuvre de P.-P. Prud'hon, Paris 1924, p. 91, no. 251;
C. Sterling, The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of French Paintings, XV-XVIII Centuries, Cambridge, Mass., 1955, p. 202;
J.J. Seznec, "Racine et Prud'hon", Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 6e pér., XXVI, July-December 1944, p. 354, note 18;
J.H. Slayman, The Drawings of Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, A Critical Study, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1970, pp. 78-79; p. 199, note 31;
J.D. Reid, assisted by C. Rohmann, The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300-1990s, New York and Oxford 1993, vol. I, p. 104;
C. Legrand et al., Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts Graphiques, Musée d'Orsay. Inventaire général des Dessins: École française, XIII, De Pagnest à Puvis de Chavannes, Paris 1997, p. 561, cited under no. 2063 (entry by S. Laveissière);
S. Laveissière, Prud'hon ou le rêve du bonheur, exhib. cat., Paris, Grand Palais and New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997-1998, p. 212, note 3

Laid down on an 19th century mount,. Paper originally blue, extensively discouloured, except margins. Some small loses on the edges. Some light brown stains due to foxing. Overall, the image remains strong and vibrant. Sold in a gilded neoclassical frame, Louis XVI style.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This is a very beautiful drawing, totally characteristic of Prud'hon's use of black and white chalk, but a particularly stately composition and moving subject matter.

Prud'hon was much interested in the story of Andromache, the widow of Hector, and their son, Astyanax.  He had been invited in the early 1790s to contribute illustrations for Andromaque in a large edition of Racine's plays, but was removed from the project by David, who favoured artists more closely allied to his own philosophy.  The format of Prud'hon's few drawings connected with that project are vertical compositions and treat different moments in the story. 

Prud'hon clearly continued to think about the story, as several drawings relating to it have been dated around 1800.  The present example, however, has been seen more in relation to his important painting Andromache and Astyanax, now in the Metropolitan Museum.  That was intended for Napoleon's wife, Marie Louise, and seems to have been begun around 1813.  Although advertised for the Salon of 1817, it was left unfinished at Prud'hon's death and was included in his estate sale, where it was bought by Charles Boulanger de Boisfremont, who completed it, exhibited it at the Salon of 1824, and then sold it.

The painting shows Andromache hugging her child, while Pyrrhus watches with his friend Phoenix, action which takes place in Act 2, Scene 5 of Racine's play. This drawing, instead, shows Andromache and her son with her attendant, Céphise, and the nurse, pleading for sympathy with Hermione and her companion, who move away at the left.  This is a different moment in Racine's play, Act 3, Scene 4, and must ultimately have seemed a less significant moment in the story.  After the fall of Troy, Andromache and her son were made slaves to Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles.  The Greeks wished him to give up the child, lest he become a heroic successor to his father, Hector.  Pyrrhus hesitates as he is much moved by Andromache's devotion to her son and the memory of Hector.  Much has been made of the parallel between Andromache, Hector and Astyanax and Marie Louise, Napoleon and the King of Rome, but the composition of the painting precedes Napoleon's abdication in 1814.  For a discussion of Prud'hon's treatments of the story and the various surviving drawings, see S. Laveissière, Literature, op. cit., p. 210-221.

The present drawing also belonged to Boulanger de Boisfremont, and was bought at his daughter's estate sale by Eudoxe Marcille, who was an early scholar and advocate of Prud'hon's work.