Innocence Prefers Love to Riches

c. 1804

Pierre Paul Prud’hon
French, 1758-1823

In this allegorical painting, a personification of Innocence at center signals her preference for Love, represented as a cupid, over Riches, taking the form of a woman in lavish Grecian robes and offering a chest of golden baubles. Pierre-Paul Prud’hon complicated this straightforward parable by manipulating the figures’ postures: while Innocence embraces Love, she gazes longingly over her shoulder at Riches, inviting viewers to wonder about the finality of her decision.

Prud’hon created this preparatory sketch for a larger painting to be completed by his collaborator and friend, Constance Mayer, who was known for her portraits and allegorical scenes.

Status: On View, Gallery 219
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Pierre Paul Prud'hon
Title: Innocence Prefers Love to Riches
Place: France (Artist's nationality)
Date: 1799–1809
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions: 34.3 × 27.2 cm (13 1/2 × 10 9/16 in.)
Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
Reference Number: 1933.1090
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/16405/manifest.json

Edmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt, Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint, dessiné et gravé de P.P. Prud’hon (Paris: Rapilly, 1876) pp. 310–11; repr. in Œuvres Complètes vol. 7–8 (Geneva and Paris: Slatkine Reprints, 1986).
Charles Clément, Prud’hon: Sa vie, ses oeuvres et sa correspondance (Paris: Didier et Cie, 1872), p. 412, n. 2.
Jean Guiffrey, P. P. Prud’hon: peinture, pastels et dessins (Paris: Albert Morancé, 1924), p. 35, under no. 18.
Jean Guiffrey, L’œuvre de P.-P. Prud’hon (Paris: Armand Colin, 1924), p. 25, no. 67.
Rose Mary Fischkin, “Martin A. Ryerson Collection of Paintings and Sculpture, XIII to XVIII Century, Loaned to The Art Institute of Chicago” (unpub. MS, 1926, Ryerson Library, The Art Institute of Chicago), p. 151.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), p. 361.
Colin Harrison, Line and Colour: 19th Century French Drawings from the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, exh. cat. (Tokyo Station Gallery, 1992), n. pag, under no. 1.
Sylvain Laveissière, Prud’hon ou le rêve du bonheur, exh. cat. (Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, and Metropolitan Musuem of Art, 1997), p. 181–2, under no. 120, fig. 120a.
Phyllis G. Tortora, Survey of Historic Costume: A History of Western Dress (New York: Fairchild Publications, 1998), p. 259, fig. C.
Elizabeth E. Guffey, Drawing an Elusive Line: The Art of Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (Newark: University of Delaware Press, and London: Associate University Press, 2001), pp. 181, 186, fig. 127.
Pierre Rosenberg, Passion for Drawing: Poussin to Cézanne, Works from the Prat Collection, exh. cat. (Art Services International, Alexandria, VA, 2004), p. 174, under no. 52, fig. 2.

Chartres, Société Archéologique d’Eure-et-Loir, Exposition Archéologique et d’objets d’art, May 10–June 10, 1858, no. 103, as Le mépris des richesses.
Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, Exposition des œuvres de Prud’hon au profit de sa fille, May 4–July 4, 1874, cat. 71.
Paris, Exposition Universelle Internationale de 1889: Exposition Centennale de l’art français (1789–1889), 1889, cat. 554.
Art Institute of Chicago, Selected Works of 18th Century French Art in the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, January 24–April 15, 1976, cat. 19.

Probably François Marcille (died 1856), Paris [de Goncourt and de Goncourt 1876 report that he bought it in 1839 and bequeathed it to his son Camille]; by descent to his son, Camille Marcille (died 1875), Paris; his estate sale Hôtel Drouot, Paris, March 6, 1876, lot 51, for 8,000 francs [price according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague]. L. Tabourier, Paris, by 1889 [lent to Paris 1889]; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 20–22, 1898, lot 118, for 5,000 francs [price according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague]. Durand-Ruel, Paris, by 1898 [it is likely that Durand-Ruel purchased the painting at the Tabourier sale, possibly as agent for Martin A. Ryerson]; sold to Martin A. Ryerson (died 1932) for 5,000 francs, July 20, 1898 [according to the transaction invoice, Ryerson Papers, Art Institute Archives]; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1933.

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