Jean-Auguste Ingres

FRENCH PAINTER and draughtsman, a champion of academic art. Ingres’ father was a minor painter and sculptor and, with parental encouragement, he displayed a talent for both drawing and music at a very early age. Opting for the former, he moved to Paris in 1797 and entered David’s studio. There, inspired by his teacher and by Flaxman’s engravings of antique vases, Ingres developed a meticulous Neo-classical style, notable for impeccable draughtsmanship and a smooth, enamel-like finish. This helped him to win the Prix de Rome in 1801, and brought him a succession of lucrative portrait commissions.

Ingres worked extensively in Italy after 1806, although he continued to exhibit at the Salon and rapidly became the epitome of the academic establishment. This was most obvious in the 1820s, when his pictures were contrasted with those of Delacroix, in the ‘battle’ between Classicism and Romanticism. While his style was a model of classical correctness, however, Ingres’ subject matter was often distinctly Romantic. This is particularly evident in the exotic eroticism of Oriental scenes, such as La Grande Odalisque and The Turkish Bath.

Excerpt from Art. The World of Art, from Aboriginal to American Pop, Renaissance Masters to Postmodernism.