About the Artist

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780 Montauban-1867 Paris) studied at the academy in Toulouse between 1791 and 1796, and afterward in Paris with Jacques-Louis David. From 1806 to 1824 he lived in Florence and Rome before returning to Paris. He accepted an appointment to the Academy in Rome in 1835, and taught there until 1841. Strongly influenced at first by David's style, Ingres increasingly turned towards the Renaissance, taking the work of Raphael, Holbein and Titian as his models. Harmony, brilliant composition and fine treatment of surfaces (especially of the human body) distinguish Ingres' work. As a representative of late classicism he is the counterpoint to Eugene Delacroix, who set himself violently against the "official" academic tradition. His major works include Napoleon I on the Emperor's Throne, c. 1806, Musee de I'Armee, Paris; Madame Devacay, 1807, Musee Conde, Chantilly, and Raphael and La Fornarina, 1814, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge.