A glimpse of the ART world, in the manner of an alphabetical mini-art tour. ART focuses on artists and art movements between the 1850's-1960's. There are exceptions.
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| Ingres, Artist, Self-portrait at age 24, PD*-WC |
I = Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominique
1780 – 1867
A French Neoclassical painter, Ingres also played the violin. His actual skill on the violin is a matter of dispute. As a man respectful of the past, he assumed the role of protector of the status quo in painting against his perceived rival, Eugene Delacroix, who represented the new Romantic style of painting. He studied and borrowed from earlier art, adopting the style most appropriate. By the end of his life, Ingres' portraits, painted and drawn, were recognized as his greatest legacy.
Modern opinion considers Ingres and some of the other Neoclassicists as 'Romantic' spirits of an earlier sort. This is especially true of Ingres' expressive distortions of form and space. Elegance of line was paramount. His technical abilities won him many awards, but like most artists, he suffered some major thumbs-down reviews from the critics. Ingres influenced a later generation of artists. His most significant were: Degas, Picasso and Matisse.
At 71 years of age, Ingres married for the second time to a 43 year old woman, a relative of a friend. It was a happy marriage and seemed to inspire more painting. In 1853, he painted the Apotheosis of Napoleon I, for the ceiling of a hall in the Hotel de Ville in Paris. It was destroyed by fire in the Commune of 1871.
Ingres died of pneumonia in January of 1867, at the age of 86, having kept his faculties until the last. He is interred in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, in a tomb sculpted by his student Jean-Marie Bonnassieux. He bequeathed the contents of his studio, a number of major paintings, over 4000 drawings, and his violin to the city museum of Montauban, now called the Musée Ingres.
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A sketch that shows the technical expertise of Ingres' drawing skills:
Portrait of Victor Baltard's wife and daughter Paule.
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| Portrait of Baltard's wife and child by Ingres |
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Have you heard of Ingres or know his work? Did you know of the animosity between Ingres and Delacroix? Do you like the Neoclassical style better than the Romantic? (Both styles took liberties with the image and its presentation, in the interest of art.)
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Brought to you by the A to Z Blog Challenge 2014 Team and the originator: Lee of Tossing it Out. Click the A to Z list of participants and read on. Hope to see you again throughout the blogfest!
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| A to Z Blog Challenge 2014 |
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References:
Image Credits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Auguste_Dominique_Ingres - Wiki on Ingres, with some example of his work
Images: 1) Self-Portrait at 24, and 2) Portrait of Baltard's wife and child.
Same public domain details for both images.
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.
This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art.
The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
This work is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less
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