Love Seduces Innocence, Pleasure Entraps, and Remorse Follows

Prud’hon explores the register of eroticism in this allegorical painting. The subject preoccupied this tormented artist’’, who approached this theme with a sombre pessimism, which culminates with this work. The bas-relief composition testifies to the artist’s attraction to antiquity, softened here by his sensitivity to the hazy atmospheres favoured by Leonardo da Vinci and Correggio. Commissioned by Empress Josephine, this canvas was to be shown at the 1810 Salon, but the plan was abandoned when Napoleon divorced her in late 1809. ’Unfinished, the canvas remained in the artist’s studio until his death.’. Frame: running moulding with carved ornament, gilded. France, late 18th century