Head of Vengeance

Prints and Drawings

c. 1804

Pierre-Paul Prud’hon
French, 1758-1823

A study for the figure of Divine Vengeance in Prud’hon’s celebrated paintingJustice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime (1808), the head of Vengeance, who pursues Crime as an agent of Justice, brilliantly reflects the artist’s stated aim for the painting: “to give a commotion to the soul.”
Although the drawing’s blue paper has faded almost completely to gray, the work’s expressive power remains intact.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Pierre Paul Prud'hon
Title: Head of Vengeance
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1799–1809
Medium: Black and white chalk, with stumping, and with traces of blue chalk, on blue laid paper (faded to tan)
Dimensions: 50.8 × 39.9 cm (20 × 15 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Arthur Heun Fund
Reference Number: 1952.1111
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/76635/manifest.json

Edmond de Goncourt, Catalogue Raisonné de l’Oeuvre de P. P. Prud’hon (Paris, 1876), no. 77.
Ciolkowska, (1922), p. 113, (ill.).
Clement-Janin, “Prud’hon, ses Gravures et ses Graveurs,” La Renaissance de l’Art (May 1922), p. 326.
Jean Guiffrey, L’Oeuvre de P. P. Prud’hon (Paris, 1924), no. 371.
The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly, XLVII (November 15, 1953), p. 72 (ill.).
Alfred Frankfurter, “Il Bon Disegno from Chicago,” Art News, 62 (November 1963), p. 29 (ill.).
Jean Vallery-Radot, French Drawings from the 15th to the Early 19th Century (New York, 1964), p. 104 (ill.).
James Slayman, The Drawings of Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (Madison, Wis., 1970), no. 89 (ill.).
Weston, (1975), p. 358 (ill.).
Harold Joachim, French Drawings and Sketchbooks of the Eighteenth Century in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1979), no. 2D12.
Clay (1980), p. 117 (ill.).
Sylvain Laveissiere (Paris, 1986), no. 19 (ill.).
John Elderfield and RobertGordon, The Language of the Body: Drawings by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (New York, 1996), no. 1 (ill.).

Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, “Prud’hon,” 1874, cat. 226.
Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, “Dessins de l’École Moderne,” 1884, cat. 559.
Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, “Prud’hon,” 1922, cat. 106.
Paris, Musée de Orangerie, “De David à Toulouse-Lautrec,” 1955, cat. 86.
New York, Wildenstein and Company, “Master Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago,” October 17-November 30, 1963, n.p., cat. 73, pl. XXVI.
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Neo-Classicism: Style and Motif,” 1964, cat. 108.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Selected Works of 18th Century French Art in the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago,” January 24-March 28, 1976, pp. 72-73, cat. 67 (ill.).
Paris, Musée du Louvre, “Dessins français de l’Art Institute de Chicago de Watteau à Picasso,” October 15, 1976-January 17, 1977, n.p., cat. 27 (ill.).
Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, “Französische Zeichnungen aus dem Art Institute of Chicago,” February 10-April 10, 1977, pp. 66-67, cat. 29 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Canova and France,” 1985.
Paris, Musée du Louvre, “Prud’hon,” February 21-May 21, 1995, cat. 169.
Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, “Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (1758-1823),” September 23, 1997-January 5, 1998.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Gods and (Super)heroes: Drawing in an Age of Revolution”, November 16, 2017 - April 1, 2018.

Charles-Pompée Le Boulanger de Boisfremont (died 1838) [Lugt 353]; by descent to his daughter, Mme. Power; sold, Paris, April 15-16, 1864, lot 40, to Henry Didier, Paris [according to New York 1998]; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 15-17, 1868, lot 151. P. E. Dromont; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, December 6-9, 1871, lot 819. P. Charles Sechan (died 1874), Paris, by 1874 [according to New York 1998]. Jules Pierre-Michel Dieterle (died 1889), Paris, by 1884 [according to New York 1998]; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 24-25, 1890, lot 36, to Clerc (?). Leon Ferte (died 1939), Paris, by 1922 [according to Paris 1922]; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 27, 1949, lot 16. Private Collection, United States [according to invoice]. Sold by Wildenstein and Company, New York, to the Art Institute, 1951.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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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.