Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique 1780-1867
French painter

Born in Montauban, he studied at Toulouse Acadamy, then he went to Paris in 1796 to study under Jacques Louis David. In 1801 he won the Prix de Rome with Achilles Receiving the Ambassadors of Agamemnon (�cole des Beaux- Arts), but quarrelled with David and from 1806 to 1820 lived in Rome, where he began many of his famous nudes, including La Grande Odalisque (1814), The Valpin�on Bather (1808) and La Source (begun in 1807 but not completed until 1856), all in the Louvre, Paris. Many of the paintings he sent to Paris from Rome attracted vehement criticism, especially from Eug�ne Delacroix, whose work Ingres detested. The leading exponent of the classical tradition in France in the 19th century, Ingres painted with superb draughtsmanship, but little interest in facial characteristics or colour. His motto was 'A thing well drawn is well enough painted'. He also painted historical subjects such as Paolo and Francesca (1819, Chantilly), and in Florence (1820-24) painted The Oath to Louis XIII for Montauban Cathedral, which appeased the rival schools of classicists and Romantics in France. He returned to Paris in 1826 and was appointed professor at the Academy. His Apotheosis of Homer (Louvre ceiling) was well received, but The Martyrdom of St Symphorian (1834, Autun Cathedral) was not, and Ingres went off again to Italy (1834-41), becoming director of the Acad�mie Fran�aise in Rome. His Stratonice (Chantilly), Vierge � l'hostie (Louvre) and Odalisque � l'esclave re-established him in Paris and he returned in triumph, was awarded the Legion of Honour (1855) and made a senator (1862).

Bibliography: Gaetan Picon, Ingres (trans, 1980)