October 5, 1999-January 2, 2000
Widely regarded as the greatest portrait painter of the 19th century and one of the most brilliant draftsmen of all time, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) dominated French painting for more than half a century and left an enduring legacy, inspiring artists such as Cézanne, Degas, Matisse, and Picasso. On view October 5, 1999, through January 2, 2000, Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch brings together 40 paintings and 92 drawings from every period of the artist's prodigious career, providing visitors with a unique opportunity to appreciate the refinement, originality, and beauty of Ingres's portraiture. Spanning six decades, from the last years of the Revolution to the Second Empire, the portraits in the exhibition constitute a "Who's Who" of the ruling elite in France — the aristocracy of birth, beauty, politics, wealth, and intellect.
The most comprehensive assemblage of Ingres's portraits ever presented outside of France, the exhibition features such illustrious and rarely lent masterpieces as Napoleon as First Consul (1804, Musée d'Armes, Liège), Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Gouriev (1821, State Hermitage Museum), Louis-François Bertin (1832, Musée du Louvre), both standing and seated versions of Madame Moitessier (1851 and 1856, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and National Gallery, London), the beautiful Vicomtesse d'Haussonville (1845), on loan for the first time from the Frick Collection, and the Metropolitan's own Princesse Albert de Broglie (1853), from the Robert Lehman Collection. Also on view are some of the most splendid drawings of the 19th century, ranging from Ingres's crisply rendered portraits of fellow artists and British visitors in Rome and Florence, to preparatory sketches for several of the major canvases.
Related Exhibition
An exhibition in the Museum's Costume Institute, Costume and Character in the Age of Ingres — on view September 9 through November 21, 1999 — complements this landmark assemblage of Ingres's portraits.
Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch is made possible by The Florence Gould Foundation.
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and The National Gallery, London.
An indemnity has been granted by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
More about the exhibition
Philippe de Montebello, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, commented: "This exhibition offers visitors to the Metropolitan a wonderful opportunity to experience not only superb canvases and drawings of surpassing aesthetic refinement, but also to come face to face with the principal personalities of 19th-century France. A truly gifted painter, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was able to convey in his portraits both an astounding psychological acuity and an indulgent attention to the sumptuous details of shimmering fabrics, glittering jewels, and highly polished interiors — creating what one critic in 1867 termed 'the most faithful image of our epoch.' The Metropolitan Museum is fortunate to be able to enhance the context of this once-in-a-lifetime presentation of Ingres's portraits with a related exhibition concurrently on view in the Costume Institute."
Although Ingres himself wished to be considered a painter of history and mythological subjects, it is as a portraitist that he is most highly regarded today. The canvases and drawings in the exhibition reveal Ingres as an extraordinarily innovative and virtuoso painter whose unrivaled technical skills and powers of observation were perfectly attuned to the political, social, and economic tenor of the times. For more than two-thirds of the 19th century, Ingres brilliantly depicted his contemporaries in Paris and Rome, capturing with precision the elaborately encoded fashions of his sitters. Collectively, the portraits on view convey a vivid picture of one of the most storied periods of European history, featuring many of the principal characters who shaped it.
Among the earliest works in the exhibition are Ingres's portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte, which chronicle the ruler's rapid rise to power. Napoleon as First Consul depicts a man of action and resolve; just two years later, in the nearly iconic painting Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne (1806, Musée de l'Armée, Paris), the emperor has been subsumed by the trappings and ostentatious splendor of his reign. Ingres's many beautiful early portraits of women include the alluring Madame de Senonnes (1814, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes), in which the subject — richly bejeweled and resplendent in luxurious fabrics — is depicted from two perspectives, frontally and reflected in a mirror from behind, a motif that Ingres incorporated into many of his most successful compositions. In addition to emperors and ladies of society, the artist also depicted his own circle of friends, such as the landscape painter François-Marius Granet (1809, Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence) and the renowned composer Charles Gounod (1841, The Art Institute of Chicago). Perhaps the best-known painting in the exhibition is Louis-François Bertin, a prosperous and influential newspaperman whom Manet dubbed the "Buddha of the bourgeoisie," and whose likeness here is among the most candid and unforgettable portraits in Western art. It is accompanied in the exhibition by two preparatory sketches in which the artist refined the pose for the finished portrait.
In addition to preparatory sketches for oil paintings, the exhibition includes an extraordinarily rich selection of Ingres's independent portrait drawings, which he continued to make throughout his career. With their elegant yet natural poses and confident draftsmanship, the pencil-drawn portraits, such as those of composer Victor Dourlen (1808, private collection), John Russell, Sixth Duke of Bedford (1815, The Saint Louis Art Museum), Madame Charles Simart (1857, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo), and Comtesse Charles d'Agoult, née Marie de Flavigny, and Her Daughter Claire d'Agoult (1849, private collection) reveal Ingres's abundant talent for — and abiding interest in — capturing the essential character of his sitters with a remarkable economy of means.
The culmination of Ingres's career as a portraitist came in his later years when he painted with undiminished inventiveness a series of great society beauties of Second Empire Paris, including the elegant Vicomtesse d'Haussonville and Princesse Albert de Broglie. Temporarily reunited in the exhibition are the two versions — standing and seated portraits — of Madame Moitessier depicted in all the opulent adornment of her elevated social station.
Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch has been selected and organized by Gary Tinterow, Engelhard Curator of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Philip Conisbee, senior curator of European paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and Christopher Riopelle, curator of 19th-century art, The National Gallery, London.
Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with essays by the exhibition curators and other scholars, including Georges Vigne of the Musée Ingres, Montauban, and independent Ingres specialists Dr. Andrew Shelton and Dr. Hans Naef, with an introduction by Robert Rosenblum, professor of fine arts, New York University, and a chronology by Rebecca A. Rabinow, Research Associate, Department of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 608-page catalogue features 504 illustrations, including 203 in full color. It is available in the Metropolitan Museum's shops in both clothbound ($85) and softcover ($55) editions; the catalogue is distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
The publication is made possible by the Doris Duke Fund for Publications.
Exhibition Itinerary
Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch was on view in London and Washington prior to the presentation at the Metropolitan.
Educational Programs
To complement the exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art has organized a diverse array of educational programs, including a subscription lecture series, an international symposium, gallery talks, documentary films, and programs for both students and teachers. A special Key to the Met Audio Guide is available for rental at the entrance to the exhibition. In addition, the Museum's Web site will feature an interactive program that allows users to view selected works from the exhibition and to access information about those images, with links to comparative works.
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September 16, 1999
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