
Phrosine and Mélidore
<p>Prud’hon created this print as an illustration for a 1797 edition of Gentil Bernard’s sensual and tragic poem of the same name. The young Phrosine, at right, falls in love with Mélidore, but her jealous brothers separate the two and banish Mélidore to a life as a hermit on a nearby island. Desperate to see her beloved, Phrosine swims across the channel at night, and collapses, naked, into her lover’s arms.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1797
- Dimensions
- Image: 21.2 × 14.5 cm (8 3/8 × 5 3/4 in.); Plate: 34.3 × 25.1 cm (13 9/16 × 9 15/16 in.); Sheet: 29.2 × 21.3 cm (11 1/2 × 8 7/16 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Pierre Paul Prud'hon
Artist

Painting
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon was a French Neo-classical painter and draughtsman best known in his own time for his allegorical paintings and portraits, now for his drawings. He painted a portrait of both of Napoleon's two wives.
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More by Pierre Paul Prud'hon
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Crucifixion
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1822 · Lithograph on off-white wove paper
Une Lecture
1822 · Lithograph in black on paper
Une Lecture (A Lecture)
1822 · lithograph on chine applique
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Pierre Paul Prud'hon
- Year
- 1797
- Dimensions
- Image: 21.2 × 14.5 cm (8 3/8 × 5 3/4 in.); Plate: 34.3 × 25.1 cm (13 9/16 × 9 15/16 in.); Sheet: 29.2 × 21.3 cm (11 1/2 × 8 7/16 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1797-112889
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified





