# Head of Vengeance

- By: Pierre Paul Prud'hon (French, 1758-1823)
- Date: c. 1804
- Medium: Black and white chalk, with stumping, and with traces of blue chalk, on blue laid paper (faded to tan)
- Classification: Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions: 50.8 × 39.9 cm (20 × 15 3/4 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Arthur Heun Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/76635)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/b6dac4f1f4fc68e9ab4b15863cf39644.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

A study for the figure of Divine Vengeance in Prud’hon’s celebrated paintingJustice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime (1808), the head of Vengeance, who pursues Crime as an agent of Justice, brilliantly reflects the artist’s stated aim for the painting: “to give a commotion to the soul.” Although the drawing’s blue paper has faded almost completely to gray, the work’s expressive power remains intact.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0