Ludus Pro Patria

Artist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (French, 1824-1898)

Place of OriginFrance

Dateabout 1880

DimensionsWork: 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)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1951.313

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 33

Label TextThe 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.Published References

Werth, L., Puvis de Chavannes, Paris, 1926, pp. 15, 125, no. 15 (as 1881).

The Art News, vol. 29, Nov. 1, 1930, repr. p. 110 (called Return of the Prodigal Son).

Burrows, Carlyle, "Letter from New York," Apollo, Dec. 1930, p. 454 (called L'Enfant Prodigue).

Buffalo, Albright Art Gallery, Bosch to Beckmann, 1950, no. 13.

Sutton, Denys, "Nineteenth-Century Painting: Trends and Cross-Currents," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 493, repr. fig. 24.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 132-133, pl. 242.

Foucart, J., ed., "Puvis de Chavannes," Le Petit Journal des Grandes Expositions, N. S. 41, Nov. 1976, p. (3) (as a reduction).

Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Puvis de Chavannes 1824-1898, 1977, no. 151, pp. 168-169.

Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Pierre Puvis de Chayannes, 1994, no. 107, pp. 191-192, 194, repr. p. 193 (col.).

Price, Aimee Brown, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes: a Catalogue Raisonne of the Painted Work, vol. II, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 262-63, cat. 288, repr. (b&w) p. 262.

The European Fine Art Fair Maastricht 11: Tefaf; 18 - 27 March 2011, Mecc Maastricht, the Netherlands, Helvoirt, European Fine Art Foundation, 2011, p. 157.

"Ludus Pro Patria", Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, London, Stair Sainty, 2011, repr. (col.).

Price, Aimee Brown and Noriko Tsutatani, Arcadia by the Shore: the Mythic World of Puvis De Chavannes, 2014, no. 33, pp.110, 248, repr. (col.), p. 111.

Exhibition History

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Cent ans de peinture francaise, 1930, no. 11.

Art Gallery of Toronto, Great Paintings, An Exhibition in Aid of the Canadian Red Cross, 1930, no. 93.

New York, Knoedler, Masterpieces by Nineteenth Century French Painters, 1930, no. 9, repr.

London, Reid and Lefevre, French Paintings of the 19th Century, Ingres to Cezanne, 1933, no. 93.

New York, Knoedler, Figure Pieces, 1937, no. 13, repr.

New York World's Fair, Masterpieces of Art, 1939, no. 268, repr.

Los Angeles County Museum, The Development of Impressionism, 1940, no. 57, repr.

Rochester, The Memorial Art Gallery, Old Masters of Modern Art, 1944, (no catalogue).

The Baltimore Museum of Art, Exhibition of 19th and 20th Centuries French Painting, 1944, (no catalogue).

Detroit Institute of Arts, Two Sides of the Medal, French Painting from Gérome to Gauguin, 1954, no. 92, repr., p. 53.

Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, Puvis de Chavannes and the Modern Tradition, 1975, no. 20, repr.