The Rape of Europa

Pierre Paul Prud'hon

Associated Names
Pierre Paul Prud'hon

Artist, French, 1758 - 1823

This is a drawing of a person interacting with a bull. The drawing features a figure embracing a bull with notable horns. The line work is delicate and the outlines are finely detailed, particularly around the figure’s hair and the bull's face. The bull is depicted with human-like eyes and ears as it lays on a bed of swirling shapes. The figure appears intertwined with the bull, with draped cloth flowing around them. The left hand of the figure holds the side of the bull’s face, while the rest of the body lies on the bull's back. The style is reminiscent of classical drawings with a mythological or allegorical theme.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching on chine collé

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Frank Anderson Trapp

  • Dimensions

    plate: 13.2 x 18.6 cm (5 3/16 x 7 5/16 in.)
    sheet: 18 x 17.8 cm (7 1/16 x 7 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2004.128.35

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Goncourt 1876, no. 3, State i/ii

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Frank Anderson Trapp [1922-2005], Amherst, MA; gift to NGA, 2004.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1876

  • Goncourt, Edmond de. Catalogue raisonne de l'oeuvre peint, dessine et grave de P.P. Prud'hon. Paris: Rapilly, 1876.

Inscriptions

by later hand, lower center in graphite: -yes-; by later hand, upper left verso in graphite: PiereP; by later hand, lower left verso in graphite: Pierre Paul Prud'hon Enlevement d'Europe / Eau forte originale 1er etat no2

Wikidata ID

Q75428105

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