This lush volume accompanies the first American retrospective of the work of Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (1758-1823), a renowned French court painter and draftsman. A contemporary of Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), Prud'hon won acclaim during the years spanning the French Revolution, the Empire, and the Restoration for his graceful paintings of allegorical and mythological subjects and for his handsome portraits.

Here, 60 paintings and 100 works on paper are superbly reproduced and illuminated by individual commentaries. Prud'hon's strong connections to the upper echelons of French government can be seen in his portraits of such figures as the empress Josephine and the powerful Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, prince de Benevent. His nudes and other drawings, made from five models, are among the treasures of 19th-century academic art.