INGRES, tIN'gr', JEAN AtTutisrE DOMINIQUE (1780-18(i7). A French historical and portrait painter, a leader of the Classicists. lie was born at 'Montauban, August 29, 1780, the son of a senlptor. He soon became the most important pupil of David, whose school lie entered in 1796. In 1801 lie received the Prix de Rome with the picture "Achilles Receiving the Messenger of Agamemnon," now in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts; but, owing to the state of the national finances, he was eompellcd to remain at Paris. Ile occu pied himself with drawings, portraits, and my thological subjects until 1806, when he was sent to Rome. There he learned to know the works of Raphael, who exercised a dominating influ ence upon him. He also studied the antique fresco and vase painting, and these new influ ences brought him into conflict with the strict Classicists. While he continued to execute large historical pictures, he was compelled to earn his living by drawing those admirable crayon por traits—three hundred in numher—whieh are per haps the most extraordinary of his works. In 1820 he migrated to Florence, laboring under the same difficulties until. in 1824, the brilliant. success of his "Vow of Louis XIII." (no• in Montauban Cathedral) caused him to return to Paris.
Ile soon became the bead of a large school and the acknowledged leader of the Classicists, hard pressed by the Romanticists, under the leader ship of Delacroix. In 1829 lie completed his "Apotheosis of Homer," a decoration of one of the ceilings of the Louvre. which is considered his finest epic painting. Weary of the hostile eriticism which this painting provoked. he gladly became director of the French Academy at Rome in 1831, remaining there until 1841. During his second stay at Rome he painted two of his most admirable works. "Stratonice" and "Chem bini inspired by the Muse" (Louvre), which were received with the highest praise. On his return to Paris in 1841. he was made an officer of the Legion of lIonor, a commander in 1845. and grand officer in 1855; he was named a Senator on Slay 25, 1862; and he was soon after appointed a member of the Imperial Council of Public Instruction. At the Paris Exhibition of 1855 a room was set apart for his pictures, and one of two grand medals of honor was award ed to him, Delacroix getting the other. "La Source," sent to the London Exhibition of 1862, and now in the Louvre, showed powers unim paired by age. The died in Paris, January 17, 1867.
Ingres's greatest strength lay in his drawing.
"Le dessin &est la /wait( de Part" was his motto. His consummate skill is very evident in his admirable crayon studies and drawings, of which the Montauban Museum contains the most valuable collection, left by the painter to His native town. To him inure than to any other the French school owes that excellency of draughtsmanship for which it is famous. His studies also show an incredible perseverance and sincerity of purpose. These qualities, however, were attained at the expense of color, which, when not almost monochrome, was coarse and hard. llis works also show lack of originality. The figures, even of his best paintings, may be traced to models in works of Raphael, Michel angelo, or Greek vase painting.
Among the most important historical paint ings of his first Roman period are: "(Edipus and the Sphinx" (1810). in the Louvre; "Ju piter and Thetis" (1811). Aix ITW11111 ; the "Sleep of Ossian" (1811), and "Romulus Con quering Acron" (1812). In.selies for Napoleon's palace on the Monte Cavallo; the "Odalisque" (1814), Louvre; "Virgil Reading the .lin•id to Augustus;" "Pedro of Toledo Kissing the Sword of Henry IV." (1814) ; "Raphael and the For narina" (1814) ; "Aretino and the Envoy of Charles V." (1816) ; "Roger and Angelica" (1819). and "Christ Delivering the Keys to Saint Peter" (1820), both in the Louvre. His later works include: "Martyrdom of Saint Sym phorian" (1834) , Autun Cathedral ; "Madonna with the Host," Saint Petersburg; "Christ Among the Doctors" (1842) ; "Birth of Venus" (1848) ; "Aretino Visiting Tintoretto" (ISIS).
Ingres is, perhaps, greatest in portraiture, where he stands in closest contact with nature. Among the best of his painted portraits are those of himself (1804) ; "Napoleon as First Consul" (1804). Liege Museum; "Napoleon En throned," Hotel des Invalides (1800 ; "Le moine" (1819) ; "Charles N." (1829) ; and espe cially "Berlin the Elder" (1833). The Louvre contains those of "Philibert Riviere and Wife" (1806) and of "Chernbini" (1843). Ingres also designed cartoons for the celebrated glass paintings in the Chapel of Saint Fernando, Paris. His works were admirably engraved, especially by Riehehomme and Ifenriquel-Dupont. The most important of his large school of pupils was llippolyte Flandrin (q.v.).
Consult the biographies of Ingres by Blanc (Paris, 1870) ; Delaborde (Ili_ 1870) ; Baize (Paris. 1880) ; Alommeja, in Les artistes bres; Sehmarson. in Dobme, Kunst um? Kiinstler (Leipzig, 1884).