PRUDHON, Pierre Paul, pear French painter: b. Cluny, Saone-et-Loire, 4 April 1758; d. Paris, 16 Feb. 1823. He received his first instruction in his art at Dijon under Devosge. In 1780 he went to Paris. Two years later he won a competition for a Roman schol arship offered by the estates of Burgundy. He arrived in Rome early in 1785 and devoted him self assiduously to study, forming his style on that of the 16th century masters, especially Leonardo da Vinci and Correggio. He returned to Paris in 1789 and painted portraits, gaining with difficulty his living under the Terror. He gradually made himself known, although his misfortunes had been early aggravated by a marriage undertaken under circumstances of great imprudence; and in 1800 he became fa mous by his timely picture 'Truth Descending from Heaven.' In 1808 appeared in the Salon his 'Psyche Carried off by Zyphyrus' and 'Crime Pursued by Justice and Divine Ven geance,' the latter now in the Louvre. From this time his position was assured. In 1808 he received the Legion of Honor and in 1816 was made a member of the Institute. In these years he also found compensation for his unhappy marriage in the love and care of one of his pupils, Mlle. Constance Mayer. Besides paintings and mural decorations he also made many designs for elaborate fur niture for the emperor and his family amongst which may be mentioned the cradle for the Prince of Rome, the son of Napoleon I and Marie Louise. He also etched many of his works and almost innumerable en gravings of many of them were made by etch ers of his own times and of later periods. His importance in the history of French art history lies in the fact that he indicated a revolt from the cold classicalism of David, introduced freer and bolder pictorial effects than had so far ob tained in French art and utilized the emotional and sentimental resources which lie in the skil ful distribution of light and shade in a picture. Other works of his are 'Cupid Chastised' (Na tional Gallery, Dublin) ; The Assumption' ; 'The Crucifixion); 'Interview of Napoleon I and Francis II after Austerlitz' (Louvre, Paris) ; 'Union of Love and Friendship); 'Venus and Adonis' ; An Unhappy Family'; 'Venus in the The last four works are in private collections, as are also many others, as well as most of his portraits and sketches.
Seventeen of the latter, however, are to be found in the Louvre. Works of his may also be seen in museums at Angers, Cherbourg, Di jon, Montpellier, Orleans, Quimper, etc. A sketch of a ceiling in Dijon is owned by the Historical Society, New York. Consult Blanc, C., 'Histoire des Peintres> (Vol. III,
Francaise,> Paris 1865); Burty, P., 'Un Carnet de P. P.
(in L'Art, Vol. VU, p. 11, Paris 1876); Clement, C., 'Prud'hon sa Vie, ses (Euvres et sa Correspondancel (Paris 1872); Delacroix, E.,