Andromache and Astyanax
ca. 1798
Medium
Pen and gray ink with brush and brown wash over traces of black chalk
Dimensions
11 3/4 x 8 5/8 in. (29.8 x 21.9 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1999
Accession Number
1999.348
Tags
Art Historical Context
Pierre Paul Prud'hon's drawing "Andromache and Astyanax," created around 1798, portrays a tender scene of the Trojan widow Andromache with her infant son. The work centers on themes of motherhood and protection, using the figures of a mother and child alongside other men to evoke quiet emotional intensity on a modest sheet of paper. Executed in pen and gray ink with brush and brown wash over traces of black chalk, the medium allows for precise lines combined with soft tonal washes that create depth and atmosphere. This technique highlights Prud'hon's ability to suggest volume and feeling thro...
About the Artist
Pierre Paul Prud'hon
Pierre Paul Prud'hon (1758–1823) was a French painter and draughtsman whose dreamy, sensuous art occupied a singular position between the Neoclassicism and Romanticism that competed for dominance in French painting around 1800. Born in Cluny in Burgundy, he received his early artistic training at the Dijon Academy before winning the Prix de Rome of the Estates of Burgundy, which allowed him to spe...