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Ludus pro patria (Patriotic Games)

ca. 1883–89
Not on view

Puvis’s evocation of ancient France shows young athletes training with pikes (piques in French), the traditional weapon of the Picardy region and reputedly the origin of the province’s name. One man has thrown his spear into the air and prepares to catch it—a rare moment of spontaneity in Puvis’s oeuvre. This work is a replica, reduced in size, of a mural that the painter completed in 1882 and installed in 1888 in the Musée de Picardie in Amiens. The exhibition and sale of such "reductions" helped publicize the artist’s monumental decorative commissions and boost his income.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ludus pro patria (Patriotic Games)
  • Artist: Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (French, Lyons 1824–1898 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1883–89
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 13 1/8 x 52 7/8 in. (33.3 x 134.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Harry Payne Bingham, 1958
  • Object Number: 58.15.1
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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A Muse of Poetry, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes French, Graphite and chalk on paper
A Muse of Poetry
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
19th century
Sleep: sketch for the painting, now in the museum at Lille, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes French, Pen and brown ink on tracing paper
Sleep: sketch for the painting, now in the museum at Lille
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
1840–98
Sketch for War, painting in the Museum of Picardy at Amiens, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes French, Black chalk touched with white and red chalk
Sketch for War, painting in the Museum of Picardy at Amiens
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
ca. 1861
Study for Geometry in “The Sorbonne", Pierre Puvis de Chavannes French, Fabricated black crayon, squared with blue crayon
Study for Geometry in “The Sorbonne"
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
1886–87
Seated Figure: Study for “A Vision of Antiquity”, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes French, Fabricated black crayon, squared
Seated Figure: Study for “A Vision of Antiquity”
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
1883–85

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