Lot Essay
The attribution to Ingres was confirmed to the previous owner by Dr Hans Naef. Dr Naef suggested that the sitter may be the architect Jean-Baptiste Lepère (1761-1844), of whom there is a portrait drawing by Ingres in the Louvre (H. Naef, Die Bildniszeichnungen von J.-A.-D. Ingres, Bern, 1977, V, no. 338).