Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, Marble sculpture in Jardin du Luxembourg, France.
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon is a marble bust in the Jardin du Luxembourg, set on a stone pedestal among the garden's series of monuments to artists. The head is carved with the painter's receding hairline and heavy-lidded gaze, and the pedestal carries his name and dates. It stands in the western part of the garden, near the terrace and the Musée du Luxembourg.
The marble bust of Pierre-Paul Prud'hon was carved by Gustave-Joseph Debrie and inaugurated in 1888, the year after the painter's remains were transferred to the Père-Lachaise cemetery. It stands in the Jardin du Luxembourg among the series of monuments to artists and writers installed under the Third Republic. Prud'hon (1758–1823) was a painter and draughtsman admired for his allegorical and portrait works.
The marble bust by Gustave-Joseph Debrie, placed in 1888, carries the name of Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, the painter known for allegorical canvases such as Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime. Visitors can read the inscribed name on the pedestal and note the laurel branch carved beside the portrait, a motif marking his membership in the Institut de France.
The statue is located in the southern section of the garden near the museum building and can be easily found while strolling. You can view it from multiple angles and have space to examine the marble carving from different distances.
The statue displays finely rendered hair strands and a contemplative facial expression that Prud'hon himself used repeatedly in his own self-portraits. These artistic hallmarks make the representation particularly recognizable to those familiar with his works.
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