Artwork: Madame Moitessier

Artist: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Genre: Portrait

Created: 1856

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 120 x 92 cm

Location: National Gallery, London, UK

Photography by @art_love_enjoy_life at @nationalgallery

“Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), a pupil of Jaques-Louis David, painted some of the world’s most memorable and admired portraits, yet as an academician he considered the genre inferior to history painting. He wrote that expression on painting demands a great science in drawing, and believed that the best way to achieve this skill was to copy from classical sources and continue in the tradition of Raphael. This set him against the artists such as Delacroix, who beloved in expression through color. For Ingres there should be not visible brushstroke; the paint should be “as smooth as an onion skin.” This portrait of Marie-Clotilde-Inès Moitessier, the wife of a banker, was begun in 1844. It did not leave his studio until many years later, during which time her clothing changed several times. The pose is taken from a Roman wall painting in Herculaneum. The huge mirror is a statement of wealth, along with the vase, the furniture, and the sitter’s jewelry and sumptuous dress. It is also a technical device to create depth, and to recreate Madame Moitessier in profile. Ingres frequently framed women with mirrors, displaying them as beautiful, decorative objects. This doubling also enabled him to demonstrate his skills by painting the reflected image. Many nineteenth-century painters such as Whistler and Manet adopted this device for different reasons. Ingres’s successor was Degas, who admired and emulated his skills of draftsmanship. Matisse and Picasso took his legacy into the twentieth century.” WO

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