Andromache and Astyanax

Pierre Paul Prud'hon|Charles Pompée Le Boulanger de Boisfrémont

?1813–17; 1823–24? · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

Prud’hon—a principal representative of neoclassicism who developed this smoky, sfumato technique—began this painting for the former empress of France, Marie Louise. Still incomplete when he died, it was finished by one of his students. The subject of family devotion and its relationship to the state is taken from the French dramatist Racine: Andromache embraces her son, Astyanax, in whom she sees the features of her husband, who had been killed by Achilles. When mother and son become spoils of war, Achilles’s son, Pyrrhus, falls in with her; however, as Pyrrhus’s surprised gesture indicates, she rejects his advances in fidelity to her deceased husband.

Artist

Pierre Paul Prud'hon|Charles Pompée Le Boulanger de Boisfrémont

Date

?1813–17; 1823–24?

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Bequest of Collis P. Huntington, 1900