Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867)

Contents

• Biography
• Training
• Early Submissions to the Salon
• Public Recognition
• Later Life
• Important Paintings

Portrait of Napoleon (1806)
Louvre, Paris.

AESTHETICS
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What is Art?

Biography

The French painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres is one of the most eminent French exponents of Neoclassical art. A pupil of Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) - the greatest of all Neoclassical artists - Ingres was also influenced by Italian Renaissance painters like Raphael (1483-1520), as well as by classical Baroque painters such as Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). He painted nudes, portraits and mythological works with the sort of high 'finish' required by the French Academy. Along with Nicolas Poussin, he is regarded as one of the great exemplars of "academic art" and one of the finest Old Masters of his era. Harmony, brilliant composition and fine treatment of surfaces (especially of the human body) distinguish Ingres' oil painting.

His key paintings include The Valpincon Bather (1808), La Grande Odalisque (1814), The Apotheosis of Homer (1827), and Turkish Bath (1862-3), all housed at the Louvre.

WORLDS TOP ARTISTS
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Best Artists of All Time.
For the greatest view painters, see:
Best Landcape Artists.
For the greatest portraitists
see: Best Portrait Artists.
For the greatest genre-painting, see:
Best Genre Painters.
For the top allegorical painting,
see: Best History Painters.

WORLD'S BEST ART
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fine art painting, by the
world's top artists, see:
Greatest Paintings Ever.

Training

Born in Montauban, France, Ingres' father was an artist of sorts: a painter of miniatures, sculptor, stonemason and musician. From an early age, the young Ingres was encouraged to draw and learn music. He attended a local school but his formal education came to a close when the school was shut during the French Revolution. His lack of formal schooling was to remain a sensitive spot in the artist's life. In 1791 he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Toulouse. It was here that he studied and developed a veneration for the works of Raphael. He was awarded first prize for drawing by the Academy, and then went to Paris to study with Jacques-Louis David, then the leading exponent of neoclassical painting. He remained in David's studio for four years. In 1799 he entered the French Academy of Fine Arts (Ecole des Beaux-Arts). He made his debut at the Salon with Portrait of a Woman in 1802. This piece is now lost. Shortly after he won a prestigious commission, along with five other artists to paint a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Early Submissions to the Salon

Ingres early career was not particularly smooth. In 1808 his painting Oedipus and the Spinx was criticised as being flat and shadowless. He often borrowed from the idiom of Greek art, adopting a historical style which led his critics to charge him with plundering the past. Alienated by this, he spent the next few years in Italy as the Director of the French Academy in Rome. He continued to study and paint in Rome, every year sending paintings back to the Paris for judgment. He had hoped to demonstrate his growing expertise in human figure drawing with his paintings the Oedipus and the Sphinx and The Valpincon Bather - but both were badly received. Again in 1811, his painting Jupiter and Thetis was again harshly criticised in Paris. Only Eugene Delacroix, and other figures in the Romantic Movement supported his work - ironically, Ingres spent most of his life denying any affiliation or respect for the movement. In 1813 he married Madeleine Chapelle, who had come recommended to him by friends. Their courtship was by letter and he only met her after their engagement was announced. She was to be a constant support to him for the next few years as his work continued to attract criticism.

In 1819 he sent his painting La Grande Odalisque to the Paris Salon. The subject, a concubine lying with her back to the viewer was influenced by Titian's Venus of Urbino. The elongated proportions of the nude and erotic smooth skin are reminiscent of 16th century Mannerist painters. Contemporary critics complained that the back had been elongated by at least two vertebrae and that the painting was eccentric and bizarre. Modern critics claim the way Ingres managed to fuse realism with distortion was one of his gifts, which - along with his subtle colour palette - made his paintings appear more alive and thrilling, rather than dead and academic. In 1815 Ingres painted Aretino and Tintoretto - the painting showed Tintoretto brandishing a pistol at his critic, which much have provided much satisfaction to the painter.

Public Recognition

In 1820 Ingres and his wife moved to Florence. He painted many commissions during this time, and it was his painting The Vow of Louis XIII, exhibited at the Salon in 1824 that finally gave him the public acclaim he craved. He found himself celebrated throughout France and was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1825. His work La Grande Odalisque, which was scorned by critics and artists alike only a few years before, was now suddenly widely popular. He became known for his pro-classical, anti-romantic values - a reputation he relished. In 1841 he returned to Paris and received the sort of deferential attention and public recognition which he felt he deserved. One of his first works was a portrait of the Duc d'Orleans, whose death only a few weeks after completion of the painting sent the nation into mourning and resulted in several requests for copies of the portrait.

Later Life

Although he could paint quickly, Ingres often laboured years over a painting - sometimes returning to a canvas after a gap of several years. He became best known for his portrait art, although he complained it robbed him of the time he could spend on historical subjects. He often dined with his subjects in order to catch them off guard, when they were most relaxed he was most likely to glimpse something of their essence. His portrait of Monsieur Bertin (1832) and Comtesse d'Haussonville (1845) were praised as ideal reconstructions of individuals.

In the last 10 years of his life Ingres produced some of his most important works including the famous Turkish Bath (1862) showing nude women in a harem. Only a year later Manet exhibited his notorious Olympia - which shocked society by placing nudes next to dressed gentlemen. Ingres was more acceptable because it was obviously set in an exotic fantasy world. Ingres died of pneumonia in 1867 at the age of 86. The entire contents of his studio, including many major paintings and over 4000 drawings are now housed in the Musee Ingres, Montauban.

One of the greatest neoclassical artists, Ingres' influence on later artists, including Degas, Picasso and Matisse was considerable. Although Ingres was highly respectful of classical principles, modern critics say his paintings incorporate the body of a romantic spirit. His experiment with distortions of form and space made him an important precursor to modern movements of French painting.

Important Paintings

Pictures by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres can be seen in a number of the best art museums throughout the world, notably the Louvre in Paris.

- Portrait of Napoleon (1806) Louvre.
- La Valpincon Bather (1808) Louvre.
- La Grande Odalisque (1814) Louvre.
- The Apotheosis of Homer (1827) Louvre.
- The Small Bather (1828) Louvre.
- Antiochus and Stratonice (1840).
- Odalisque and Slave (1842) Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.
- Portrait of Countess D'Haussonville (1845) Frick Collection, New York.
- Odysseus. Study for Triumph of Homer (1850) Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lyon.
- Portrait of Princess De Broglie (1853) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
- Joan of Arc: Coronation of Charles VII in Cathedral of Reims (1854), Louvre.
- Turkish Bath (1862-3) Louvre.

• For profiles of the major art styles/movements/periods, see: History of Art.
• For a chronological list of dates, see: Timeline: History of Art.
• For more biographical details about famous painters, see: Art Encyclopedia.