Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (Montauban 1780-1867 Paris)

Marie (1828-1920), the eldest child of Charles and Louise Marcotte, was also Ingres' favourite. Her talent as a musician probably contributed towards his special fondness for her and his letters to Marcotte are full of affectionate references to her. Ingres first drew Marie at the age of fifteen months, in a high chair wearing a bonnet, in two drawings identical in composition, both dedicated to 'Papa et Maman' (Naef, 1977-80, nos. 325-6). In 1844, Marie met Alexandre Legentil (1821-1889), the son of a very wealthy drapery merchant. They got married in October 1846, three months after Ingres had drawn, one day apart, these two portraits dedicated to Madame Marcotte, Marie's mother. During the summer Ingres had written to his friend and student Calamatta - who had drawn Marie a few years earlier (see Day Sale, 8 July, lot 130): 'L'on a présenté à Marie Marcotte un très beau jeune homme, il aura un jour 8 millions de fortune; la vierge a dit oui, et les deux familles, Legenty et Marcotte sont heureuses de ce oui. Tout aussi me fait espérer au bonheur de cet adorable enfant' (D. Ternois, 'Lettres d'Ingres à Calamatta', Bulletin du Musée Ingres, 1982, nos. 47-8, p. 83).

Alexandre Legentil was deeply religious and when he had to flee Paris in 1870 he made the vow to build a church dedicated to the Sacred Heart should the city be spared by the Prussians. He then played a large part in the funding and construction of the immense Basilica dominating Paris which was not completed until 1914, 25 years after Legentil's death.

Strangely, Ingres has used two different kinds of paper to draw, one day apart, the portraits of his sitters: an usual thin cream wove paper which was most probably originally stretched on a prepared tablet (see lot 54) for the portrait of Alexandre and a thicker and heavily textured paper for Marie.