The Works of Ingres

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PLATES

'ŒDIPUS AND THE SPHINX' PLATE I

During the second year of his sojourn in Rome, Ingres produced his famous picture of 'Œdipus and the Sphinx,' in which his individual manner of conception and execution was first affirmed. The mythical hero is here represented, not as David would have represented him, cold and lifeless as a statue, but as a man endowed with the beauty of a Greek athlete rather than a god, and although his body is drawn and modeled with such academic exactitude that its very perfection is in itself somewhat wearisome, yet when compared with the creations of the painter of the Horatii and the Sabines, it can readily be seen why Ingres, pure classicist though he be, should have been regarded in his own day as a revolutionary.

The old Greek legend is here portrayed of Œdipus explaining the riddle of the Sphinx, whereby he delivered Thebes from the cruelties of that monster who had mercilessly destroyed every man who had failed to solve her riddle. Œdipus has entered the cave in which the Sphinx is seated. With one foot placed upon a rock and his elbow resting on his knee, he gazes intently in her face as he explains that a being with four feet, two feet, and three feet is man, who, in infancy, crawls upon all fours, in manhood stands erect upon two feet, and in old age supports his tottering legs with a staff.

A red mantle is thrown over the young Greek's shoulder, against which rest two spears, weapons with which to defend himself if need be against the attack of the dreaded Sphinx. The bones and portions of the bodies of the creature's victims lie scattered about, and in the distance a man is seen flying in terror.

The canvas is now in the Louvre. It measures about six feet high by four feet ten inches wide.

'PORTRAIT OF MADAME DE SENONNES' PLATE II

"In the portrait of Madame de Senonnes, now in the Museum of Nantes," writes M. Louis Gonse, "Ingres stands unrivaled. Look carefully at the illusive serenity of this strange face where no brush-stroke is visible, at the vague, fleeting smile of the parted lips, the smooth, lustrous hair, the throat modeled like an alabaster column, the sinuous lines of the body, the beautiful, large, plump hands loaded with rings; observe the perfect nonchalance of the pose, and then see the reflection of the back of the head in the mirror—a favorite device of the Primitives; note the wonderful values of the garnet red of the dress against the silky yellow cushions with their reddish brown tones, the marvelous way in which the cashmere shawl and lace ruff are painted, the strong and harmonious color-scheme based on the play of complementary tones, all the sharp precision of the drawing, carried as it is to the utmost limits, and then say whether in all modern painting there is another work which combines such a variety of perfections. This portrait of Madame de Senonnes is to Ingres' portraits of women what the one of Monsieur Bertin is to his portraits of men.

"A visiting-card stuck into the frame of the mirror, with the inscription 'Ing. Roma,' tells us that the picture was painted in the eternal city—apparently between 1806 and 1810. According to report, Ingres had a tender feeling for this fair Roman model, who, child of the people as she was, had lately become the wife of the Vicomte de Senonnes. And in truth, he has put into this portrait all the ardor, all the conviction, of his genius.

"Madame de Senonnes died young; and the vicomte, returning from Italy to his home in Angers, married again, on which occasion he presented this portrait to his brother, who promptly relegated it to the attic. At the brother's death his heirs sold it for one hundred and twenty francs ($24.00) to a dealer who afterwards offered it to the Museum of Nantes, which unhesitatingly gave him the sum of four thousand francs ($800.00) for it. To-day it would bring, at the lowest estimate, one hundred thousand francs, and the time will undoubtedly come when it will be valued at a million."

'MONSIEUR LEBLANC' (DRAWING) PLATE III

"Ingres' portraits in lead-pencil," writes M. Henry Lapauze, "are the most remarkable, if indeed they might not be called the greatest, productions of his genius.... In them we find unquestionably that quality of realism, over-conscientious, perhaps, but devoid of all coarseness, and that power of imparting life which in his large paintings is more or less concealed beneath the formality of his style."

The drawing reproduced in plate iii, and now in the Bonnat Collection at Bayonne, was made in Florence in 1822, as a preparatory study for a portrait in oil, executed in the following year. Drawn with a sureness of touch, a breadth, simplicity, and freedom, and at the same time a scrupulous precision, every line is significant. Monsieur Leblanc himself, dressed according to the fashion of the day in high silk hat and ample cloak, seems to stand before us in miniature.

'MADAME DESTOUCHE' (DRAWING) PLATE IV

"The drawing in the Louvre of Madame Destouche," writes M. Momméja, "is perhaps the most beautiful, the most worthy of being placed first in the series of those incomparable portraits which Ingres' pencil has rendered as immortal on their frail sheets of paper as are those that have been cut into indestructible bronze by the Italian medalists.

"Count Delaborde was, I believe, the first to remark upon this exquisite work. Writing of Ingres' drawings exhibited at the Salon des Arts-Unis in 1861, he says: 'The pencil portrait of Madame Destouche should especially be noticed—a drawing so masterly in its freedom, so fine in its picturesque quality, and in the originality of its costume.' And ten years later he wrote: 'This portrait is one of the most beautiful that Ingres ever drew.'

"Who then was this young woman who smiles so sweetly and takes such evident delight in her life and in her beauty? Possibly she was the wife of the artist Destouche, whose name figures on the list of David's pupils. Born in 1794, he must have married very young for Ingres to have drawn in Rome in 1816 a portrait of his wife, and yet the age of the lady here represented is quite suitable to that of a husband of twenty-two. Whoever she was, let us be grateful to her for having furnished Ingres with the subject for a masterpiece.

"She is truly elegant—Madame Destouche; her long gown, with its girdle just beneath the bust, is profusely trimmed with lace at the wrists and about the low-cut neck. A bit of delicate muslin, also edged with lace, covers her shoulders, and around her throat is a sort of ruff of plaited gauze, open in front to show the throat, around which is wound in a triple coil a chain with cross attached. As to her hat—it is a poem; a little peculiar, it may be, but charmingly becoming with its brim coquettishly turned up and with its high crown rounded like a cap beneath a cluster of nodding plumes....

"Never, perhaps, was the artist's delicate pencil more seductive, never did it more perfectly realize that physical charm of modeling which is like a caress, characteristic—as M. Roger Marx has truly said—of the creations of Ingres."

'THE STAMATY FAMILY' (DRAWING) PLATE V

The family group reproduced in plate V, and now in the Bonnat Collection at Bayonne, is one of the finest examples of Ingres' work in pencil. It was drawn in Rome in 1818, and represents Monsieur Stamaty, consul at Cività Vecchia, with his wife and children. "The characterization," writes M. Galichon, "is delicately and accurately given. Each person bears the stamp of his or her own individuality and is strikingly true to life. In short, Ingres has here produced a masterpiece."

"A marvelous group," writes M. Lapauze, "in which the depth and intimacy of the feeling expressed is in no way marred by the wonderfully minute rendering of the accessories. Each little detail of costume, each fold of material, all the differences in texture—everything is given its own special character; everything is perceptible, tangible, so to speak. Science of draftsmanship, eloquence of line, could not possibly be carried farther."

'LA SOURCE' PLATE VI

'La Source'—The Spring—considered by Charles Blanc the most beautiful figure ever produced by the French school—was not painted until Ingres was seventy-six, though the study for it had been made many years before. In the admirable purity of its line, in its grace of form and its masterly modeling in light, this work has the beauty of a Greek statue.

Standing against a dark wall of rock, her little feet reflected in the pool of water at its base, is the nude figure of a young girl. One rounded arm is thrown above her head to help support against her shoulder a Grecian urn from which a stream of water falls into the pool beneath. With her blond hair, her smooth brow and clear blue eyes, her lips parted in a slight smile, her childish form, and her expression of unconsciousness and innocence, she is a figure of almost ideal loveliness.

Upon its completion 'La Source' was exhibited in Paris, and later in London. Everywhere it aroused feelings of enthusiastic admiration. The hypercritical, to be sure, found fault with the drawing of the legs, which, repainted by the artist when the picture was finished and the model no longer before him, are not carried so far as is the upper part of the body. But on the whole even those who most strenuously opposed Ingres' methods acknowledged its beauty and excellence.

"It is difficult to imagine," writes Mr. George Moore, "what further beauty he may have introduced into a face, or what further word he might have had to say on the beauty of a virgin body."

The picture was bought by Count Duchâtel, whose widow bequeathed it to the Louvre, where it now hangs. It is on canvas and measures five and a half feet high by two feet eight inches wide.

'PORTRAIT OF MONSIEUR BERTIN' PLATE VII

This celebrated portrait of Bertin, manager of the Journal des Débats, one of the leading papers of Paris, is generally regarded as the artist's masterpiece in portraiture. It was painted in 1832. Ingres has himself related how he made repeated studies for this work, frequently changing his original plan, and as frequently beginning over again; how anxious and discouraged he became; how he finally confessed to Monsieur Bertin that all the sittings had been in vain, that nothing had been accomplished, and how grateful he was when the busy man of affairs begged him not to be so distressed but to try once more, for that he, Bertin, was in no way weary, but would gladly give him as many sittings as he wished. Reassured by such consideration, Ingres took heart and resolved to make another attempt. The pose, however, perplexed him. While still undecided on this point it happened that he spent an evening in Bertin's house, and while there the conversation turned upon some political question of the day in which opposite views were held by Bertin and his sons. Each side vehemently maintained its ground, but no argument could convince the elder Bertin that the young men had reason on their side. While listening to their argument he leaned slightly forward in his armchair, and planting his hands squarely upon his knees turned toward the speaker with an expression on his strong face indicative of interest, lack of conviction, and consciousness of power to refute the argument advanced. The pose and expression—both so characteristic and unstudied—at once struck Ingres, and when he bade his host good night, "Monsieur Bertin," he said, "your portrait is done. I have you this time and shall not let you go."

The result, attained quickly and without effort, was the superb portrait here reproduced, so forceful and expressive, so true to life, that as we stand before it in the Louvre, where it now hangs, we seem to be in the presence of the man himself.

'THE VOW OF LOUIS XIII' PLATE VIII

This great canvas, ordered by the Administration of the Fine Arts for the Cathedral of Montauban, where it is now to be seen in the sacristy, was begun in Florence in 1821, and finished three years later. The subject represents Louis xiii., King of France, consecrating to the Virgin his person, his crown, and his state, in recognition of the great mercy about to be vouchsafed by heaven in granting him an heir to his kingdom.

It would seem from his letters written at this period that Ingres was not altogether pleased with the "double subject" prescribed for him, and that, preferring one in which the interest should be more centered, he expressed his desire to paint instead 'The Assumption.' The Administration, however, was firm, and the artist was forced to yield. In his rendering of the scene, in which the historic and the mystical are combined, he has closely followed Raphael, taking his motives from that painter's famous pictures of 'The Transfiguration,' 'The Sistine Madonna,' 'The Madonna of Foligno,' and 'The Mass of Bolsena' (see Masters in Art, Vols. 1 and 4, Parts 12 and 40).

"Notwithstanding its manifest faults," writes M. Momméja, "this work is truly grand. It marks a turning-point in the history of painting as well as in the career of the artist whose fame it established. At the same time it was the beginning of his adherence to the academic method, which until then he had combated with such bitter violence.

"Exhibited at the Salon of 1824, 'The Vow of Louis XIII.' was received with unanimous approval. The romanticists, with Delacroix at their head, recognized in this new master the successful opponent of the teachings of David; while the classicists discovered in his conscientious drawing, sober and restrained coloring, an intentional protest against the innovators."

'PORTRAIT OF MADAME DEVAUÇAY' PLATE IX

In 1807, the year after his arrival in Rome, Ingres painted this portrait of Madame Devauçay, now in the Condé Museum, Chantilly, which for its purity of line, delicate subtlety of expression, and for its quality of distinction, ranks as one of his best and most characteristic works. The colors, too, partly owing, no doubt, to the mellowing effect of time, are richer and there is more atmosphere than in many of his paintings.

Madame Devauçay is seated in an armchair of red damask against a dark background. She wears a black velvet dress and a yellowish coffee-colored shawl. Around her throat is a necklace of brownish-red beads, and in one hand she holds a small tortoise-shell fan. Her smooth black hair is ornamented with a gold comb just visible at the back of her well-shaped head. Her eyes are dark, her complexion sallow, her features delicate, and although her face is in repose, about her mouth there lurks an inscrutable smile.

"Something in this canvas holds one captive," writes M. Lapauze, "even before one has had time to fully take in the perfection of the lines, the beauty of the arrangement, the velvety quality of the color. She is sister to Leonardo's 'Mona Lisa,' this woman of whom we cannot tell whether or not she is fair to look upon, so strongly does she appeal to our emotions.... She is as mysterious as the enigmatic creations of a Leonardo, or a Holbein, or as some of those beings portrayed by certain of the Primitives who have fixed upon their canvases the inexpressible emotions of the soul. Ingres, worshiper of form, consummate master of line, has here attained this rare power of magic."

'THE APOTHEOSIS OF HOMER' PLATE X

In 1826, after his return from his first sojourn in Italy, Ingres was commissioned by the French government to decorate the ceiling of one of the galleries of the Louvre. For his subject the artist took 'The Apotheosis of Homer,' and in his treatment of the theme achieved what is regarded as his finest work in composition of the grand style.

Before the entrance to an Ionic temple, Homer, the blind Greek poet, is seated, like Jupiter, scepter in hand, upon a gilded throne. A winged figure of Victory, clad in rose-color, crowns him with a wreath of laurel, and on either side are grouped the most illustrious artists, poets, and musicians of all time. Here is Apelles leading Raphael by the hand; Æschylus presenting a scroll on which his tragedies are written; Phidias with his mallet; Pindar holding his lyre; Plato, Socrates, Horace, Virgil, and Dante, and, farther down, Shakespeare, Tasso, Corneille, Poussin, Gluck, Mozart, Racine, Molière, Fénelon, and others, while on the steps at Homer's feet, personified as the poet's daughters, are seated the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey.' The first is at the left, clad in red, and with Achilles' sword beside her; the other, enveloped in a sea-green mantle, is shown in profile, holding across her knee the oar of Ulysses.

In the loftiness of its style and the purity of its lines, 'The Apotheosis of Homer' is one of the noblest examples of the classic school of painting. Although it cannot be called in any way a copy of Raphael, it is evident that in painting it Ingres had in mind the 'Parnassus' and the 'School of Athens' (see Masters in Art, Vol. 4, Part 40), those grand creations of the painter whom he regarded as superior to all others.

A copy by his pupils now occupies the place of Ingres' great ceiling decoration. The original picture is exhibited in one of the rooms of the Louvre, where it is seen to better advantage. The figures are life-sized, and the canvas measures more than twelve feet high by nearly seventeen feet wide.

A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL PAINTINGS BY INGRES WITH THEIR PRESENT LOCATIONS

BELGIUM. Brussels, Museum: Virgil reading the Æneid (study)—Liège, Museum: Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul—ENGLAND. London, South Kensington Museum, Ionides Collection: Henry iv. and the Spanish Ambassador; Sleeping Odalisque—FRANCE. Aix, Museum: Jupiter and Thetis; Portrait of the Painter Granet—Angers, Museum: Francesca da Rimini—Autun, Cathedral: The Martyrdom of St. Symphorien—Chantilly, Condé Museum: Portrait of Madame Devauçay (Plate ix); Portrait of Ingres; Stratonice; Francesca da Rimini; Venus Anadyomene—Dampierre, Château of the Duke of Luynes: The Iron Age and The Golden Age (two unfinished mural paintings)—Montauban, Museum: Jesus among the Doctors; Ossian's Dream; Portrait of Ingres' Father; Portrait of Belvèze; Portrait of a Man—Montauban, Cathedral: The Vow of Louis xiii. (Plate viii)—Montpellier, Museum: Portrait of Desdebans; Stratonice; Oil Studies for 'Jesus among the Doctors; and 'The Apotheosis of Homer'—Nantes, Museum: Portrait of Madame de Senonnes (Plate ii)—Paris, Louvre: Christ giving the Keys of Heaven to St. Peter; The Apotheosis of Homer (Plate x); Œdipus and the Sphinx (Plate i); 'La Source' (Plate vi); The Virgin of the Host; Jeanne d'Arc at the Coronation of Charles vii.; Roger liberating Angelica; The Large Odalisque; The Bather; Portrait of M. Bertin (Plate vii); Portrait of Cherubini; Portrait of M. Cordier; Portraits of M. and Mme. Rivière; Portrait of Mlle. Rivière; Portrait of M. Bochet—Paris, École des Beaux-arts: Romulus victorious over Acron, King of the Sabines; The Ambassadors of Agamemnon in the Tent of Achilles—Paris, Hôtel des Invalides: Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte—Paris, Théatre Français: Louis xiv. and Molière—Paris, Collection Of M. Degas: Portraits of M. and Mme. Leblanc—Perpignan, Museum: Portrait of the Duke of Orleans (repetition of the one at Versailles)—Rouen, Museum: 'La belle Zélie'—Toulouse, Museum: Virgil reading the Æneid—Versailles, Palace: Portrait of the Duke of Orleans—ITALY, Florence, Uffizi Gallery: Portrait of Ingres (see page 274)—Rome, Quirinal Palace: Ossian's Dream—Rome, Villa Miollis: Virgil reading the Æneid—RUSSIA, St. Petersburg, Imperial Collections: The Virgin of the Host—SWITZERLAND. Coppet, Château: Portrait of the Comtesse d'Haussonville.