Ludus Pro Patria
Artist: Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (French, 1824-1898)
Date: about 1880
Dimensions:
Work: 37 x 49 1/4 in. (94 x 125.1 cm)
Frame: 48 x 60 3/4 x 5 in. (121.9 x 154.3 x 12.7)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1951.313
Label Text:The rightmost scene from a larger composition (see illustration), this painting is set in ancient Picardy, a province in northern France. The tender interaction of the young family in the center anchors the composition. On the right a man returns from hunting black swans, while the group on the left watches a scene that occurs “off stage.” This unseen spectacle is the “game for the fatherland” of the title: young men learning to throw spears in defense of their people. Their target is the dead tree on the right (this painting probably was paired with a scene of the spear-throwers). Toledo’s canvas and the version illustrated below derive from a mural Pierre Puvis de Chavannes painted for the Picardy museum in Amiens. His classically inspired design celebrated the patriotic values of work, family, and country.
[image caption] Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Ludus Pro Patria, oil on canvas. ©Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
[image caption] Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Ludus Pro Patria, oil on canvas. ©Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
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