![Merry-Joseph Blondel - Head of a Man [1818]](http://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5452/17642148556_4d93f3506d_o.jpg)
Merry-Joseph Blondel (Paris, July 25, 1781 - Paris, June 12, 1853) was a French Neoclassical painter. He won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1803 for his painting of Aeneas Carrying His Father Anchises, but didn’t take his place at the Villa Medici in Rome until 1809, due to the suspension of scholarships. He remained in Rome from 1809 to 1812. At the salon of 1817, he was awarded a gold medal for his painting The Death of Louis XII. Thereafter, his career was dominated by significant public commissions for paintings and murals to decorate important buildings and Royal palaces.
[Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, New Jersey - Oil on canvas, 39.6 x 31.4 cm]