Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (1758--1823) and the problem of allegory2007

This dissertation critically examines the allegorical imagery of Pierre-Paul Prud'hon. The artist displayed a studied interest in the limits and possibilities of allegory, creating allegories in disparate media, and inserting allegorical significance into projects where it was not expressly necessary. In order to understand his allegorical oeuvre and the problematic of allegorical representation at the turn of the 19 th century more deeply, this dissertation studies Prud'hon's work in the context of the discussions about allegory that were taking place at the time. The chapters are organized thematically, addressing four of the central points explored in contemporary analyses of allegory. They are described as "problems" in this dissertation because they are portrayed by 18 th - and 19 th -century texts as posing complications or obstacles to the legibility of visual art: the problem of text (the literary origins of allegory and their conversion into visual terms in art); the problem of meaning (the stakes and consequences of the viewer misreading visual allegory); the problem of ekphrasis (the difficulties inherent to the process of explaining the elements of an allegorical scene and construing them as an interpretative whole); and the problem of the modes of signification (the distinctions between personification, symbolism and metaphor). While all of these problems coexist simultaneously in every commission executed by Prud'hon, they are separated in each chapter so that the challenges posed by the production and reception of allegorical representation may be examined on their own. This dissertation does not dismiss Prud'hon's status as a decidedly exceptional artist--his background, training and stylistic choices set him apart from other artists of his generation in significant ways. But it argues that ultimately Prud'hon's relentless exploration of allegory, and his redefinition of how and where "allegory" could be located visually within the picture plane, was compatible with the issues and questions his contemporaries were pursuing in their imagery. It concludes that the allegorical problem around 1800 was central to the broader problem of conceptualization that was endemic to visual representation at the time.