Innocence Prefers Love to Riches
c. 1804
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
34.3 × 27.2 cm (13 1/2 × 10 9/16 in.); Framed: 44.5 × 37.2 cm (17 1/2 × 14 5/8 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
16405
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Pierre-Paul Prud’hon’s small oil on panel *Innocence Prefers Love to Riches* (c. 1804) presents an elegant allegory in which a youthful figure embodying innocence turns away from worldly treasures toward the embrace of love. Created at the height of Napoleon’s Empire, the painting reflects the period’s renewed interest in moral virtue and sentimental ideals following the upheavals of the French Revolution. Prud’hon, often described as bridging Neoclassicism and emerging Romantic sensibilities, favored poetic subjects that blended graceful line with soft, atmospheric lighting. The intimate sca...
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...