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

Dated 1816, this portrait was executed by Ingres during his long sojourn in Rome where he arrived in 1806 and first resided at the Villa Medici until 1810, leaving Rome briefly in the spring of 1814 to visit Naples and the royal court of Murat for three months. In the wake of Napoleon's defeat in 1814, English travellers resumed the Grand Tour, and Ingres came to depend on them for commissions of portrait drawings.

This attractive portrait featuring an unidentified model is a typical work in its rapid execution of costume details contrasting with the finely depicted facial features. The piercing gaze of the model and soft curls of hair echo a drawing at the Sammlung Oskar Reinhart am Römerholz in Winterthur (Naef, op.cit., 1977-1980, IV, no. 173, ill.).