Born in 1780 on the outskirts of Montauban in the south of France, Ingres's father was a well-known decorator and architect, as well as a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Montauban, and was a talented and interested in music, which inspired Ingres in his early years and cultivated his love of art and music.
Ingres began to formally study painting at the age of 6, received formal plaster drawing training at the age of 9, and at the age of 11 he entered the Toulouse Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture to learn painting and carving, and he studied hard at the Toulouse Academy, thus laying a solid foundation for painting and exercising excellent modeling ability.
Ingres August 29, 1780 – January 14, 1867
# 01 In David's studio
"David was our great mentor, he revived French art. His Oath of the Hogarth Brothers and The Mediation of the Sabine Women are masterpieces. David taught me to stand firmly on the feet of the human body, so that the head was properly placed on the shoulders. ”
- Ingres
17-year-old Ingres was introduced into David's studio, Jacques Louis David is a famous French painter, is the founder of the neoclassical school, he is very strict with Ingres, so that his painting shape has formed a stable classical style, David's artistic concept is also enshrined by Angle, he learned from David how to express clear and accurate lines, solid and constant composition, subtle and simple light and shadow, and the elegant atmosphere in the picture.
In 1799 Ingres transferred to the École d'Beaux-Arts in Paris, and after only three months of enrollment, he won the prize in the competition for the first body sketch, and in 1800 he won the second place in the Roman scholarship competition with "Cincinnati Meets the Representative of the Senate", of course, this was just the beginning, and he next created a series of roles based on the ancient Roman wars, because of his excellent academic performance, he was even exempted from military service by the government.
In 1801, his painting Achilles Receiving the Emissaries of Agamemnon won the Grand Prix de Rome, which qualified him to study at the Academy of Fine Arts of France in Rome at public expense.
The painting received high praise from the British sculptor Vlaxmann: "I have not seen anything more beautiful in Paris!" ”
Although slightly exaggerated, it also proves the popularity of Ingres at that time. The style of the painting is still under the influence of David, and the sculptural sense of the figures is strong, but it is softer and lighter than the orthodox academic style.
▲Jesus Returning the Keys to St. Peter 1820年
▲Joan of Arc on Corronation of Charles VII in the Cathedral of Reims 1854年 240X178cm
▲Luigi Cherubini 1841年 81.3X71.1cm
▲Luigi Cherubini and the Muse of Lyric Poetry 1842年
▲Madame Clément Boulanger, born Marie-Élizabeth Blavot, later Madame Edmond Cavé 1830年 40.6X32.7cm
Madame Gonse 1852, 73X62cm
▲Mademoiselle Jeanne Gonin 1821年 59.1X76.2cm
▲Odysseus. Study for the Triumph of Homer
▲Paolo and Francesca 35X28cm
Paul Lemoyne 1810 46X35cm
▲Virgin of the Adoption 1858年 69.5X56.8cm
Portrait of Countess Louise Ossonville 131.8X92cm
Since the Academy's scholarship was not awarded in time, Ingres' further study trip to Rome was also shelved, and he was delayed in Italy for five years, a five-year period in poverty, living on drawing sketches and book illustrations, and spending all his free time copying the Greco-Roman works of the Louvre and the reproductions of the Imperial Library.
# 02 Neoclassicism represents
Ingres is known as the last master of the Western classical school, he has always adhered to the laws of classicism, greatly admired Raphael and other classical masters, longed for the era in which Raphael lived, and thought that Raphael's art was the most beautiful, he once wrote in his notes: "Raphael - this is charming, this is beautiful, this is harmony, all of which makes my life full of charm." ”
▲Pere Desmarets
▲Portrait of a young man 39X31cm
▲Portrait of Auguste Francois Talma, Ensign, nephew of the tragedian Talma
▲Portrait of Charles X in Coronation Robes 1829年 129X90cm
▲Portrait of Count Nikolay Gouriev 1821年 86X107cm
▲Portrait of Edme Bochet 1811年 94X69cm
▲Portrait of Ferdinand-Philippe, Duke of Orleans 1842年
▲Portrait of Francois-Marius Granet 1807年 75X53cm
▲Portrait of French journalist Louis-François Bertin 1832年 116X95cm
▲Portrait of Joseph-Antoine Moltedo 1810年 75.2X58.1cm
▲Portrait of Madame Antonia de Vaucay nee de Nittis 1807年 76X59cm
▲Portrait of Madame de Senonnes 1816年 106X84cm
▲Portrait of Madame Frederic Reiset 1847年
After two centuries, the classical trend of thought had lost its progressive tendencies and had become conservative, while Ingres opposed artistic change and engaged in a long-standing polemic with Delacroix. He despised the romantic art form, believing that only classical beauty was the source of people's creation, and only the works of the older generation of artists were noble and solemn art, and should be worshipped at the feet of the previous masters with satisfaction and sincerity, and the exclusive respect for the classical tradition was the orthodox art.
He was deeply influenced by ancient art, and the sculptures of ancient Greece and Rome had a profound inspiration for him, and he also pursued the general effect of sculpture in his pictures. He said: "Sculpture is a solemn art,...... Although you can't paint like a sculptor, if there is only one person on the picture, you should paint him with a three-dimensional sense. ”
▲Portrait of Napoléon on the Imperial Throne 1806年 259X162cm
But his artistic career was not always smooth, he created a painting in 1806 "Napoleon on the Throne", which was painted to celebrate Napoleon's ascension to the emperor's throne, in this painting he portrayed Napoleon as an ancient Roman emperor, he sat majestically on the throne in the classical style, Napoleon wore a luxurious brocade robe, this dress has the luxury and refinement of the aristocratic Rococo style, with the solemnity of the medieval emperor. But compared to other works of his contemporaries, the painting is emotionally pretentious in its expression, and he also misrepresents the entire order of the zodiac on the carpet.
The painting received a cold reception when it was exhibited, and critics criticized the work for being excessively antiquarian and had crossed the boundaries of neoclassicism. Ingres, on the other hand, angrily commented that the salon was a place of destruction and should be closed.
The main reason for his frustration was that the official academic style was markedly different from David's style, and while David later wanted to learn directly from the Greeks, Ingres was more interested in Italian art; unlike David, who always adhered to the concept of realistic transfer of subject matter and shape, Ingres embarked on the road to modern aesthetic concepts, and his art implied a trend towards the abstract use of pictorial symbols.
He later studied in Rome, and at the end of his study abroad career, he stayed in Italy to learn the techniques of the classical masters.
He began to observe and represent nature in the same way as Raphael, which also led to a new perspective on Raphael's art.
Ingres's most famous work "Spring" from the very beginning to the complete completion, spanning nearly forty years, he began to draft the idea in 1807, to 1856 officially completed, during which the model also changed many times, he wanted to show the classical, pure, ideal beauty on this painting. The dark background of the blurred shade mountain stone sets off the girl's whole body line, showing a strong sense of sculpture. The painting is calm and quiet, gentle and elegant, giving people a sense of serene and beautiful comfort and feeling.
Her healthy and plump body shows a breath of vitality, conveying the beauty and fragrance of a life.
Ingres said: "The reason why the Greek statue transcends creation itself is that it condenses the beauty of each part, and nature itself rarely combines these beauties into one." ”
One critic said: "This young girl is the child of the painter's aging, but her beauty exceeds that of all women, she concentrates their respective beauty, and the image is full of vitality and idealism." ”
During these four decades, the models of "Spring" have changed many times, and the unique beauty of each model has been frozen in time by Ingres, so critics say that the painting "concentrates their respective beauty in one".
The painting combines classical beauty with realistic beauty, and Ingres shows the change of the human body's posture from unbalanced to balanced, and grasps the delicate relationship between the internal forces of the human body that embody the force and break the balance, that is, the left-leaning shoulders and the crotch that slopes to the right, the upward force and the downward pouring water tank, the forward-bent right knee and the posterior taut left leg, and the water-like curve of the body contrasts with the straight line flowing out of the water tank, which makes the girl in this painting look like a real person, both dynamic and extremely tranquil.
This painting is not a classicist painting in the full sense, leaving aside the meticulous depiction of human details and oriental moods, the most striking thing is that the female body in the picture has "three more vertebrae". He is not lacking in anatomical knowledge, but deliberately pursuing the beauty of the line, which is an abstract composition line from left to right, not only the contour line on the, its work on the picture is far greater than the role of the image, there is no direct drawing of points, lines, faces, but implied the composition of points, lines and faces.
Although the painting is not strictly classical, it is Ingres's exploration of neoclassicism, creatively turning his attention to the form of human beauty and emotionally processing the picture with deformation. The curves and curves, arcs and arcs in the picture, constitute the long arc of the human body, smooth and rhythmic, and are also a model of neoclassicism.
He later created the carnal "Turkish Bath" in pursuit of formal beauty, which does not reflect reality, but highly summarizes "eternal beauty" in the image of nude women.
# 03 School of Sketching
Ingres also has a tendency to emphasize sketching and light color. He attached great importance to sketching, and also created many sketches, believing that sketching should be an important part of the whole work, and he praised Michelangelo and Raphael for insisting on using lines, saying that they made the outlines outlined by the lines look interesting and injected passion into the drawings.
He also emphasized: "The lines – this is the sketch, this is everything." ”
In 1810, after his visit to Villa Medici, he decided not to return to Paris and to remain in Italy, where in 1813 he married Madeleine Chapelle, a young and beautiful woman who had rushed from Gueret to meet him.
▲ Portrait of Madeleine Chabel is now in the Montauban Ingres Museum
▲Alexander Baillie
Alexis Rene Le Go
▲Andre Benoit Barreau, called Taurel
▲Antoine Thomeguex
▲Aretino and Tintoretto 13.7cm
▲Auguste-Jean-Marie Guénepin 1809年
▲Charles Hayard and his daughter Marguerite
Charles Robert Cockerell 1817
▲Charles Thevenin
▲Countess Charles d'Agoult and her daughter Claire d'Agoult 1849年 47X39.3cm
▲Dr. François Melier
▲Dr. Jean Louis Robin
▲Dr. Louis Martinet
▲Dr. Thomas Church
▲Edmond Ramel and his wife, born Irma Donbernard
▲Franz Adolf von Stuerler
▲Franz Liszt
▲General Louis-Etienne Dulong de Rosnay 1818年
Color is merely subordinate in the picture, playing the icing on the cake for the perfect work of art, and he criticized Rubens's paintings for selling meat and belittling the role of color.
Therefore, he spent his whole life on sketching, believing that a precise sketch itself is art, and his sketches have a strong expressiveness, which can express the inflection relationship of the body with a very small amount of chiaroscuro tones, making it rich in volume and sculpture, and finally he also called himself the "Sketch School".
▲Henriette Harvey and her half sister Elizabeth Norton
▲Jacques Marquet, Baron de Montbreton de Norvins
▲Jean Pierre Cortot
▲Jean-Louis Provost, seated and resting his left arm on the back of a chair
▲John Russel, Sixth Duke of Bedford
▲Lady William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, born Lady Mary Acheson I
▲Lady William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, born Lady Mary Acheson
▲Lord Graham, Thomas Philip Robinson
▲Lucien Bonaparte
▲Luigi Calamatta
▲Madame Alexandre Lethiere, born Rosa Meli, and her daughter, Letizia
▲Madame Baltard and her daughter, Paule 1836年
▲Madame Charles Gounod, born Anna Zimmermann
▲Madame Charles Hayard, born Jeanne Susanne
▲Mrs. Felix Gallois, born Nathalie Rose Joachime Bochet
▲Madame Franz Adolf von Stuerler, born Matilda Jarman
▲Madame Frederic Reiset, born Augustine Modest Hortense Reiset, and her daughter, Theres Hortense Marie
▲Mrs. Guillaume Mallet, born Anne Julie Houel
▲Mrs Hippolyte Flandrin, born Aimée Caroline Ancelot
▲Madame Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, born Delphine Ramel
▲Madame Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, born Madeleine Chapelle I
▲Madame Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, born Madeleine Chapelle II
▲Madame Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, born Madeleine Chapelle III
▲Mrs. Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, born Madeleine Chapelle
▲Madame Johann Gotthard Reinhold, born Sophie Amalie Dorothea Wilhelmine Ritter, and her two daughters, Susette and Marie
▲Mrs. Louis François Godinot, born Victoire Pauline Thiolliere de L'Isle
▲Madame Louis-Francois Bertin 1834年 30.5X23.5cm
▲Miss Cecile Panckoucke
▲Mademoiselle Henriette Ursule Claire, maybe Thevenin, and her dog Trim
▲Mademoiselle Jeanne Hayard
▲Mademoiselle Mary de Borderieux
▲Merry Joseph Blondel
▲Monsignor Gabriel Cortois de Pressigny
▲Mr. and Mrs. Woodhead with Rev. Henry Comber as a Youth 1816年
Mrs Charles Badham 1816
▲Mrs Charles Thomas Thruston, born Frances Edwards
▲Mrs John Mackie, born Dorothea Sophia de Champs
Niccolo Paganini 1819
▲Otto Magnus von Stackelberg and Jacob Linckh 1817年 19.4X14.4cm
▲Pierre François Henri Labrouste
▲Pierre Marie François de Sales Baillot
▲Portrait bust of an unknown
▲Portrait of a Man
▲Portrait of miss Barbara Bansi sitting in an Italian landscape
▲Portrait of miss Bonnard 32.5X24.5cm
▲Portrait of Mr. Revoil to 18 in bust 52.4X39.2cm
▲Portrait Suvée, director of the Academy of France in Rome 1806年
▲Study for the ceiling of City Hall. Figure symbolizing the city of Madrid 1853年 25X39cm
▲Study for The Golden Age 1862年
▲Study for 'Venus in Paphos' 1852年 31.6X20.3cm
▲Study for Vicomtesse d'Hausonville, born Louise Albertine de Broglie I
▲Study for Vicomtesse d'Hausonville, born Louise Albertine de Broglie
▲The Forestier Family 1806年
▲The Oath of the Horatii, according to David 53.4X69.5cm
▲The Reverend Joseph Church
▲Ursin Jules Vatinelle
He believes that great art is based on sketching, and great art lies in discovering the main lines and blocks in nature and being able to accurately record them in a few strokes.
# 04 Perfectionists
Ingres said: "I want to live forever for art, I want to let the years and wisdom purify my taste, not let the enthusiasm be extinguished." ”
▲Amedee-David, the Comte de Pastoret 1826年 103X83.5cm
▲Raphael and the Fornarina 1814年
▲Raphael and Fornarina 1840年 35.56X27.3cm
He has always maintained an attitude of excellence in his works of art, and his previous paintings will be repainted on the basis of the original years later, and he will never be satisfied, never stopping, he said: "In order to pursue a solid expressive and perfect style, we should not regret the time and energy we have put in." ”
He was constantly correcting problems in his previous paintings, which led him to spend too much time on a work, and he once complained: "Because I try to be good at painting and the progress is slow, I make very little money." I was poor, hard working, and always conscientious. ”
Ingres is rigorous and serious about artistic creation, he takes every painting seriously, strives to achieve perfection, he will not make shoddy for money, this attitude of excellence is worth learning from artists of any era.
▲Baronesss Betty de Rothschild 1848年 141.9X101cm
▲Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples 1814年 92X60cm
▲Charles Marie Jean Baptiste Marcotte 1810年 93.7X69.4cm
Christ 1834 80X66cm
▲Delphine Ramel, Madame Ingres 63X50cm
▲Don Pedro of Toledo Kissing the Sword of Henri IV
▲Duke Ferdinand-Philippe of Orleans, as St. Ferdinand of Castile 1842年
▲Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta 1819年
▲Half-figure of a Bather 1807年
▲Large Bathing Woman 1808
▲Henry IV Playing with His Children
▲Hygin-Edmond-Ludovic-Auguste Cave 1844年 40.7X32.7cm
▲Jean Baptiste Desdeban 1810年 63X49cm
He lived to the age of eighty-seven, was the president of the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris for more than forty years, experienced the entire period of romantic and classical art controversy, and also witnessed the rise of realist painting and impressionism, he once stuck to the classicism, but in his old age, in the fierce collision of these artistic ideas, he finally realized that his ideas were outdated, but none of this could deny that he was a great artist.
Amory Duval, a student of Ingres, once said: "After Mr. Ingres turned art to a more realistic depiction of nature, he overthrew the Davidian School, and it was this revolution that gave realism the possibility of birth." Schools and traditions may produce skilled craftsmen, but they cannot produce talented painters. Only nature has this superiority, but unfortunately it does not reveal to us its secrets, which pay no attention to rules or commands, and occasionally produce a few figures whom it values, who later become the honor and the best of its time. Ingres is one of them. ”
▲Portrait of Madame Leblanc 1823年 119.4X92.7cm
▲Portrait of Madame Marcotte de Sainte-Marie 1826年 93X74cm
▲Portrait of Madame Moitessier Sitting 1856年 120X92.1cm
▲Portrait of Madame Moitessier Standing 1852年 146.7X100.3cm
▲Portrait of Madame Panckoucke 1811年 93X68cm
▲Portrait of Marie-Françoise Rivière 1806年 116X90cm
▲Portrait of Monsieur Leblanc 1823年 121X95.6cm
▲Portrait of Monsieur Rivière 1805年 116X89cm
▲Portrait of Napoléon Bonaparte, The First Council 1804年 227X147cm
▲Portrait of the Princesse de Broglie 1853年 121.3X90.8cm
▲Portrait of the Princesse de Broglie 局部
▲Self-Portrait at the age of 79 years old
▲Study for The Martyrdom of St. Symphorien 1834年
▲Study for the Martyrdom of St. Symphorien
▲The choir of the Sistine Chapel 1848年 81X98cm
▲The Apotheosis of Homer 1827年 386X515cm
▲The Dream of Ossian 1813年 348X275cm
▲The Martyrdom of St. Symphorian 1834年
Venus Anadyomene 1848 163X92cm
Baudelaire also commented on Ingres: "A tenacious man, a man endowed with special talents." ”
He also called his admiration of classicism "attached to the special, exceptional brilliance of the extinguishing sun." ”
André Adolf-Eugenie Disdery, "Ingres's Sitting Pose nearly 1860"