Portrait of a young lady, half-length

Details

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (Montauban 1780-1867 Paris)
Portrait of a young lady, half-length
signed 'Ingres Del/ a Rome/ 1816'
graphite
8 1/8 x 6 1/8 in. (20.6 x 15.5 cm)

Provenance

Possibly Prince Camillo Massimo (1770-1840), Rome.
with Colnaghi, London, 1971.
with David Carritt and Artemis, London, 1972.
with Thomas Williams Fine Art, London.

Literature

H. Naef, L'Ingrisne dans le monde', Bulletin du Musée Ingres, XXXVI, 1974, pp. 37-38.
H. Naef, Die Bildniszeichnungen von J.A.D. Ingres, Bern, 1977, IV, no. 166, ill.

Exhibited

Paris, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Suite française. Dessins de la collection Jean Bonna, 2006 (hors catalogue).
Geneva, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Le Choix d'un regard. Dessins de la collection Jean Bonna, 2007 (hors catalogue).
New York, The Metropolitan Museum, Raphael to Renoir. Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna, 2009, no. 90, ill. (catalogue entry by C. Ives).

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Brought to you by

Jonathan den Otter

jdenotter@christies.com +44 (0) 207 389 2736

Lot Essay

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.).

More from Old Master and British Drawings and Watercolours Including Works from the Collection of Jean Bonna

View All