PRUD'HON, Pierre-Paul

French portraitGLOSSARYThe Roman portrait bust survived in the form of life-sized reliquaries of saints, but it was in 15th century Florence that the individual features and character of a contemporary sitter were accurately recorded by sculptors such as Donatello, Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole and the Rossellino. A similar degree of realism occurs in 15th century tomb sculpture. The equestrian portrait, based on antique statues such as the Marcus Aurelius monument (Rome, Campidoglio), was revived in the 14th century. Two examples in fresco are Simone Martini's Guidoriccio (c. 1328; Siena, Palazzo Pubblico) and the posthumous portrait of Sir John Hawkwood (1436; Florence, Cathedral) by Uccello, which gives the illusion of a 3-dimensional statue seen from below. The Venetian Republic ordered imposing monuments from Donatello (1447; Gattarnelata, Padua) and Verrocchio (14799; Colleoni, Venice), whilst other statesmen ordered their own images to be erected in public places, directly relating themselves to the military heroes of ancient Rome. Another form of political portraiture derived from antiquity was the commemorative portrait medal designed by artists such as Pisanello. The carved or painted profile portrait became popular in the 1450s. The realism of the clear, flattened image, painted under the influence of Flemish examples by the Pollaiuolo brothers, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli, was superseded by the three-quarter and frontal portrait, psychologically more complex, such as Leonardo's enigmatic Mona Lisa (Paris, Louvre) with her momentary smile or Andrea del Sarto's arresting Portrait of a Man (London, National Gallery). The 16th century portrait became generalized, Lotto's Andrea Odoni (1527; Royal Collection) being an idealized concept of a collector rather than an individual. Group portraits, decorating whole rooms, include the narrative scenes of the Gonzaga court painted by Mantegna (completed 1474; Mantua, Palazzo Ducale) and the elaborate schemes commissioned by the Farnese family in Rome from Vasari (1546; Palazzo della Cancelleria) and Salviati (after 1553; Palazzo Farnese). Portraits were also incorporated into religious narratives, as in Ghirlandaio's fresco cycle painted for Giovanni Tornabuoni in S. Maria Novella, Florence (1486-90). and historical painter. He was trained at the Dijon Academy and in 1784 went to Rome, where he was a friend of Canova and formed his style on the example of the sfumatoGLOSSARYA technique, largely developed by Leonardo da Vinci, in which the transitions from light to dark are so gradual they are almost imperceptible; sfumato softens lines and creates a soft-focus effect. and sensuous charm of Leonardo and Correggio. In 1787 he returned to Paris and after working in obscurity for some time he became a favourite of both empresses of the French, Josephine and Marie-Louise, designing the decorations for the bridal suite of the latter. His friendship with the statesman Talleyrand enabled him to remain in favour even after the fall of Napoleon in 1815, but he painted little in his final years.

He had a neurotic personality and the shock of the suicide of his mistress - his pupil Constance Mayer - in 1821 led to his own death. Prud'hon belongs both to the 18th and to the 19th centuries. In his elegance, his grace, and his exquisite fancy he is akin to the epoch of Louis XVI - David referred to him slightingly as the Boucher of his time. But his deep personal feeling aligns him with the Romantics. Gros said of him: He will bestride the two centuries with his seven league boots.

Among his best-known pictures are Justice and Divine Vengeance pursuing Crime (Louvre, 1808), for which he received the Legion of Honour, and Venus and Adonis (Wallace Collection, London, commissioned 1810, but still in Prud'hon's studio at his death). Prud'hon was an outstanding draughtsman, but many of his paintings are in poor condition because of his use of bitumen.