3-043-984 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Head of a Woman: Study for 'The Happy Mother' (L'Heureuse mère), 1810. Additional Info: A nearly life-sized woman in antique dress gazes fondly at something held in her unfinished right arm. With her exposed breast, this ideal woman mingles dream and sensuality, anticipating Romanticism. The broad masses of light and shadow enhance the dreamlike effect. At the height of his career, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon made this nearly life-sized drawing as a model for a painting by his mistress and professional associate, Constance Mayer. The woman in the painting, titled 'The Happy Mother', gazes adoringly at her nursing infant.