Constance Mayer and Pierre Paul Prud'hon, Circle of

Portrait Study of a Sleeping Woman

Attribution: Circle of Constance Mayer and Pierre Paul Prud'hon: Portrait Study of a Sleeping Woman, This remarkable, neoclassical, black chalk portrait drawing of a sleeping woman, is attributed to the circle of Constance Mayer and Pierre Paul Prud'hon for the following reasons. Writing appears in the lower right hand corner. It is very faded but one can distinguish the first three letters -- "May ….". Marie-Francoise Constance Mayer-La Martiniere, the primary assistant and long time partner of Pierre Paul Prud'hon, exhibited her paintings and drawings at the Paris Salon from 1796 until her untimely death in 1821. When the great master, Pierre Paul Prud'hon died two years later, it is generally surmised that some of the drawings bearing his signature and sold from his estate were, in fact, created by Constance Mayer, and suffered from the machinations of unscrupulous art dealers

'Sleep' figures prominently in the art of Constance Mayer. In 1806 she exhibited a painting entitled, "Venus et l'Amour endormis" (The Sleep of Venus and Cupid), at the Paris Salon. Probably her most famous painting, "Le Reve du Bonheur" (The Dream of Good Fortune), is in the collection of the Louvre. It is certainly reasonable to conclude that she made preparatory drawings on this theme.

Scholars of Prud'hon often point to his superb use of light in his figure drawings. Pierre Rosenberg writes, "He (Prud'hon) preferred shadow, softness and full, rounded forms lit by a strange, lunar light obtained through the use of the stump, to the line which encompasses forms with harshness. His art, which shunned movement, did not aspire to the great heroic subjects depicted by painters of the Revolution and Empire but tended above all to mix together dream and sensuality." * Portrait Study of a Sleeping Woman clearly contains all these elements.

Lastly, the type of paper should be mentioned. Many of Prud'hon's drawings were executed on blue, laid paper. Over the course of time some of these papers have faded to various shades of tan. This may be the case with this portrait study of a sleeping woman.

* Pierre Rosenberg, French Master Drawings of the 17th & 18th Centuries in North American Collections, London, Martin Secker & Warburg, 1972, p. 200.

Original Black Chalk Drawing on Tan Laid Paper, Circle of Constance Mayer and Pierre Paul Prud'hon.

Portrait Study of a Sleeping Woman

View other Original works of art designed by the French artist, Pierre Paul Prud'hon

Paul Prud'hon, Pierre (Cluny, 1758 - Paris, 1823)
#	Image	Artist & Title	Medium	Date	Artist Info	Info
01.-		Les Petits Fileurs (The Little Spinners) by Hyacinthe Aubry-Lecomte designed by Pierre Paul Prud'hon	Original Lithograph	1848	Hyacinthe Louis Victor Jean Baptiste Aubry-Lecomte 'Hyacinthe Aubry-Lecomte' (Nice, 1797 - Paris, 1858) after Pierre Paul Prud'hon (Cluny, 1758 - Paris, 1823)	Bearing the title, "Les Petits Fileurs", the artist's name and date, "Lith. par Aubry-Lecomte 1848", the designer's name, "Dessine par Prud'hon", the printer's name "Imp. Jacomme" and the publisher's details "A Paris, chez Aubry-Lecomte, Rue du Bac, 38" along the lower margin as published by Aubry-Lecomte in Paris in 1848.
02.-		Portrait Study of a Sleeping Woman Circle of Constance Mayer and Pierre Paul Prud'hon	Original Black Chalk Drawing on Tan Laid Paper	c. 1810 - 1820	Marie-Francoise Constanc Mayer, 'Constance Mayer' (Chauny dans l'Aisne, 1776 - Paris 1821) Paul Prud'hon, Pierre (Cluny, 1758 - Paris, 1823)	Drawn upon thin, laid paper with no discernable watermark and backed upon a sheet of wove paper by a previous owner. Bearing the aforementioned writing along the lower right margin.

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Title:	Portrait Study of a Sleeping Woman
Attribution:	Mayer, Marie-Francoise Constance 'Constance Mayer' (Chauny dans l'Aisne, 1776 - Paris 1821)
Attribution:	Prud'hon, Pierre Paul (Cluny, 1758 - Paris, 1823)
Date:	c. 1810 - 1820
Medium:	Original Black Chalk Drawing on Tan Laid Paper
Note:	Marie-Francoise Constance Mayer-La Martiniere 'Constance Mayer': At the age of fifteen Constance Mayer first studied art techniques under Joseph Benedict Suvee and Jean-Baptiste Greuze. In 1796 she became a regular exhibitor at the annual Paris Salon shows. Constance Mayer began working with Pierre Paul Prud'hon in 1803. In 1808 she moved into quarters at the college de la Sorbonne, the building which was also home to Prud'hon. It was an ill kept secret that Constance Mayer was not only Prud'hon's pupil but his mistress.
	Constance Mayer committed suicide on May 28, 1821. Prud'hon never recovered from the shock of her death and died of ill health several years later.
	During the following years it became customary to belittle the art of Constance Mayer. Critics, such as the Goncourt brothers, began to attribute (at least in part) her best drawings and paintings to the hand Prud'hon. Such speculations, however, are futile. The close artistic and emotional ties between the two makes it almost impossible to ascribe specific authorship.
Note:	Pierre Paul Prud'hon: A major French, neoclassical painter, Pierre Paul Prud'hon was the thirteenth child of a stone mason. After learning the fundamentals of art by himself the Bishop of Macon enrolled Prud'hon in the Academy of Dijon. In 1782 Prud'hon was awarded a prize to study art in Italy. There the art of both Leonardo and Correggio provided a lifelong inspiration for his work. Pierre Paul Prud'hon returned to France in 1789.
	Prud'hon's initial years in Paris were full of hardship. He had married some years earlier a woman who suffered through periods of violence and alcoholism. That, in combination with a growing family, led him to take any sort of work, including designs for the lids of sweetmeat boxes.
	His fortune changed when he created designs for the publisher, Didot. By 1800, Prud'hon had emerged as a leading painter and he received important commissions from the Louvre and the Palais de Justice. Pierre Prud'hon received the Legion of Honour in 1809 and was elected a member of the Institute in 1816. His famous art is both of his time and looks forward to the age of nineteenth century Romanticism.
	As fine as Prud'hon's paintings are, it is his drawings which enter the realm of masterworks. His studies of the human form, in particular, are among the greatest in the history of art.
Size:	14 X 10 1/2 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
	Framed & Matted with 100% Archival Materials

Buy Now	Price: $2,650.00 US
Condition:	Drawn upon thin, laid paper with no discernable watermark and backed upon a sheet of wove paper by a previous owner. Containing a stain in the middle left margin and creasing along the lower margin. Bearing the aforementioned writing along the lower right margin. Composed mostly in black chalk with traces of white chalk highlights in the lips of the woman and in the material under her chin. In fair condition throughout. Altogether, Portrait Study of a Sleeping Woman represents an outstanding, original example of early 19th century French art from the circle of Constance Mayer and Pierre Prud'hon.
Subject:	Marie-Francoise Constance Mayer-La Martiniere, Constance Mayer, Pierre Paul Prud'hon, Pierre Prud'hon, Portrait Study of a Sleeping Woman, Original Black Chalk Drawing, early 19th century French art, neoclassical, Romanticism, dream and sensuality.
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