Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
“The simpler the lines and shapes,” Ingres said, “the more beauty and strength. Every time you dissect forms, you weaken them... When studying nature, pay attention first of all to the whole. Ask him and only him. Details are pompous little things that need to be reasoned with.”
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres was born on August 29, 1780 in Montabana. His father, miniaturist and sculptor Joseph Ingres, became his son's first teacher. At the age of eleven, Dominic entered the Royal Academy of Toulouse, where he studied until 1797. His painting teacher was J. Roca.
At the end of the academy, he becomes a student of J.-L. David in Paris. Serious, obsessed with work, Ingres keeps to himself, not taking part in student undertakings and meetings. His drawings and field studies speak of a strong hand and a precise eye. Since 1799, Ingres has been studying at the School of Fine Arts, where in 1801 Dominic received the Grand Prize of Rome for the painting "Achilles receives the envoys of Agamemnon."
"Achilles" not by chance caused the greatest praise of the famous English sculptor and draftsman Flaxman, who called this picture the most significant event in French art of that time. Flaxman exaggerated his assessment, but he noticed in Ingres's painting a subtle and lively, slightly pretentious elegance, characteristic of English classicism of the early 19th century, which did not fit into the stereotyped rules of the academic school.
Dominic received the right to study in Rome, but due to lack of government funding, he remains in France. At this time, Ingres makes a living with portraits, among which should be noted: "Self-portrait" (1804), three portraits of the River family (1805), a portrait of a friend Gilibert (1805), "Emperor Napoleon on the Throne" (1806).
Drawing dominates here over color; everything is built in a clean and absolutely true line. Paints only highlight the drawing and, with their subtle and soft combinations, only set off the sharpness and completeness of the linear contour.
The works of Ingres, exhibited at the Salon of 1806, were noticed, critics reproached the author for imitating Jan van Eyck in "Gothic". He was also accused of violating academic rules, which were considered unshakable. Indeed, Ingres conveyed the exquisite simplicity of the costume in every detail, calmly showed, without any idealization, the individual features of the faces, the naturalness and simplicity of the poses.
In 1806, Ingres finally travels to Italy. Until 1820 he lives in Rome, and then until 1824 in Florence. The artist worked hard and hard in Italy, sending paintings from time to time to Paris for exhibition at the Salon. He painted a lot from antique statues and from paintings by old Italian masters. He sought to renew classical art and attached the greatest importance to tradition, the lessons of the great artists of the past, primarily Raphael.
During the years of his stay in Italy, Ingres painted a number of beautiful portraits - Madame Devose (1807), Marcotte, who later became his closest friend (1810), the architect Dedeban (1810), Madame de Sennon (1814), a charming, delicate and delicate portrait of Jeanne Gonin ( 1821).
T. Sedova says:
“In 1807, Charles Aquier, the French envoy to the papal court in Rome, commissioned this portrait from a young French artist who had recently arrived in the “eternal city”. And after forty years, a poorly dressed woman, hardly recognized by him, came to the Parisian studio of the same artist who became famous. In desperation, she confessed her extreme need and asked to help her in the sale of both expensive and memorable portrait. What a human drama, how many ruined hopes, trampled feelings, and maybe other sufferings unknown to us are hidden behind these two meager facts, it is difficult to judge ...
The portrait has firmly become one of the masterpieces of world portraiture. As we can see, a very young, beautiful and happy woman posed for the artist.
The color scheme of the portrait is made up of large planes of black and brown, contrasting with red and golden yellow. The last tones are so intense that they make even the cold black color sound in an unusual tone for it.
The bright beauty of the model, her restrained sparkling temperament make it possible to assume that we are facing a true Italian. With all available means, the artist emphasizes the alluring femininity of Madame Devose.
Ingres's drawing is especially refined in his paintings with a naked human body: "Oedipus and the Sphinx" (1808), "Bather" (1807), "Great Odalisque" (1814), "Ruggiero Frees Angelica" (1819). Here his line becomes fluid and flexible; a smooth, calm contour runs around the clear silhouette of a figure, gently modeled with meanest, thinnest shadows.
“But often this easy modeling of volume seems superfluous to Ingres,” writes A.D. Chegodaev. – Many of his masterpieces of the Italian period are simple lead pencil drawings, where there are almost no shadows anymore and the expressiveness of a clean line reaches the utmost skill. These are his portraits of Mrs. Detouches, the famous violinist Paganini, the Stamati family, Leblanc. But this exquisite, cold purity of the drawing does not interfere with the accurate and calm characterization of the depicted people. In Leblanc's portrait, for example, the dandy appearance and lively, careless pose are perfectly captured, conveyed in just a few strokes of a pencil. But the historical paintings of these years turned out to be far-fetched, cold and boring, and sometimes full of mannered theatricality.
Ingres revealed all the best aspects of his art already in the first period of creativity, until 1824. And his best creations will remain simple portraits or individual nude figures, where he most fully embodies his serene, calm art, pleasing with a clear musical rhythm that permeates nature and man.
However, Ingres considered the creation of large compositions on historical and religious themes to be the main business of his life. It was in them that he sought to express his aesthetic views and ideals, it was with them that he connected the hope of fame and recognition. The huge canvas The Vow of Louis XIII, exhibited at the Salon of 1824, gives the impression of an internally cold, far-fetched composition.
“The idea underlying it was false: in terms of subject matter, this work corresponded to the views of the most reactionary circles of society that restored the Bourbons,” notes V.V. Starodubova. “They weren’t slow to bring such extraordinary talent to their side. Ingres fulfills a number of official orders, creates huge multi-figured compositions, gives these works years of long, exhausting work, and the results are negligible - things turn out to be dry and inexpressive. Such is the "Apotheosis of Homer", "St. Symphorion". This was the tragedy of the artist, who every time he began to paint a new portrait, looked at him as an annoying hindrance, tearing him away from large paintings.
But Ingres was wrong, believing that it was these paintings that would bring him immortality ... "
Ingres receives more and more honors: in 1825 he was elected a member of the French Institute, in 1829 he was appointed professor at the School of Fine Arts (in 1853 he became its director). But if before 1824 supporters of the decrepit academic art attacked Ingres, now he is sharply criticized by young romantic artists. Their criticism is fair, but it upsets and revolts Ingres. He reacted especially painfully to the hostile assessment that was met with “The Torment of St. Symphoriana" (1834). He even decided to leave Paris and again went to Italy for several years, where from 1835 to 1841 he was director of the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Medici.
Ingres did not seem to notice how he contradicted himself when he created, simultaneously with his motionless, dispassionate academic canvases, such masterpieces of the sharpest observation or genuine poetic grace as the famous portrait “Portrait of Bourtin” (1832). “In the handsome appearance of the gray-haired gentleman, in his smart strong-willed face, powerful figure, in the imperious gesture of the hands, in the tenacious fingers, one feels energy, invincible pressure, business acumen, turning the head of the Deba magazine into a symbol of a new era” (V.V. Starodubova ).
On his return to Paris, Ingres was commissioned in 1843 by the Duke de Ligne to paint a painting at the Château de Dampierre. Here the artist worked until 1847, but the work remained unfinished, because the nudes in the interpretation of Ingres, according to the concepts of the then society, offended the sense of decency. Meanwhile, nude figures have always occupied a very important place in the work of Ingres, who achieved perfection in their depiction.
In later years, it was the image of the naked body that glorified his best works - the famous "Source" (1856) and "Turkish Bath" (1859-1869).
At the same time, he confirms his fame as one of the great masters of the portrait, creating "Countess Haussonville" (1845), "Baroness Rothschild" (1848), "Madame Gonz" (1845-1852), "Madame Moitessier" (1851), " Madame Moitessier" (1856). His self-portrait of 1858 is stern, straightforward and sharp, full of will and energy. Although Ingres was burdened by the fact that he had to paint a lot of custom-made portraits, spending his skill on carefully writing out spectacular dresses.
Although, like no one else, he knows how to turn a household detail into a magnificent still life, perfectly conveys the materiality, texture, picturesque beauty of a wide variety of fabrics and materials. In his portraits, along with a convincing individuality, characterization emerges; his portraits are a portrait of an era.
Ingres died on January 14, 1867 in Paris. In the cold winter, the artist went out with his head uncovered to see the woman who posed for him to the carriage, fell seriously ill - and soon he died.
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingresfrench artistJean Auguste Dominique Ingreswas bornAugust 29, 1780in the south of France in the ancient city of Montauban.
Father - Joseph Ingres, engaged in painting, engraving, music. Moreover, according to the grateful son, who had already gained recognition by that time, if Ingres Sr. had the opportunities that he provided to his offspring, he would become the greatest artist of our time. One of the most vivid memories of Dominique Ingres about his own childhood is the red chalk, which he learned to draw under the guidance of his father. And on the shoulders of the mother, nee Anna Mule, lay down all the other worries about three children.
The father decided to try out all the options available and taught his son how to draw, sing and play the violin at the same time. It quickly became clear that a pencil and a brush obey the boy best of all. Although Dominique Ingres retained his love for music throughout his life, the expression "Ingres's violin" has become a household word. So they talked about the small weakness of a big man. Ingres was friends with many musicians and composers, Liszt described his playing as "cute" - this hobby was clearly not his forte.Franz Liszt
From 11 to 16 years old, young Ingres studied the basics of painting at the School of Fine Arts in Toulouse. There, for the first time, his interest in antiquity also manifested itself. To the famous David, Ingres entered the Paris Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 17 and immediately became one of the strongest students. He was not distinguished by sociability, but he was distinguished by perseverance. On the course he was given the nickname "hermit". David noticed the industriousness and considerable talent of the young man, and nominated the student for the Great Rome Prize, the main reward of which is a four-year paid internship in Rome. On the second attempt, in 1801 Ingresfor the painting Ambassadors of Agamemnon to Achillesreceived this award. Alas, the treasury ran out of money in the Napoleonic wars, and the government could not afford such expenses. As compensation, the artist received a workshop for his use, in which he continued to work on copies of the great ones and won public recognition with his portraits.
From 1802, Ingres began to exhibit at the Salon. He is ordered to Portrait of Bonaparte - First Consul (1804), and the artist makes a sketch from nature during a short session, finishing the work without a model.This is followed by a new order: Portrait of Napoleon on the imperial throne.
"Napoleon on the imperial throne"Portrait of Madame Devaucay, 1807
Ingres treated beauty with reverence, perceiving it as a rare gift. The beautiful forms of the human body are a constant source of inspiration for the artist.
A hymn to female beauty is perceived by the captivating classical clarity of forms and lines "The Big Bather" (Valpinson's Bather); full of elegant grace and royalty Big odalisque.
"Walpinson's bather". 1808
There is a legend about how in 1837 Ingres' endurance and peace of mind during an outbreak of cholera saved his students. One of the students fell ill and died, the rest panicked, rushed to pack their things to run - as if at that time there were ways to escape from such a scourge. Ingres locked all the doors and forbade anyone to leave the walls of the Medici villa. For several weeks, students and teachers did not leave the building, studied hard, arranged musical performances in the evenings, and sometimes Ingres read aloud Plutarch ... So the epidemic bypassed the Academy.
"Virgil Reading the Aeneid"
"Happy is he who could know the causes of things and put under his feet all the fears, and the inexorable fate, and the sound of the waves of the greedy Acheront."
Virgil
"Paolo and Francesca"Ingres was ambitious, always dreamed of recognition and was very painful for criticism: after many years he could reproduce an abusive review addressed to himself and prick his opponent in response.
"Natural impressionability and boundless desire for fame haunt me", he himself admitted.
Subsequently, art historians agreed that Ingres as a portrait painter is one of the strongest sides of his talent. He himself considered portraits to be hack work, a handicraft way to earn money. Ingres took his works on ancient and historical subjects seriously.
"The Composer Cherubini with the Muse of Lyric Poetry". 1842
A talented student of David, Ingres quickly moved away from his principles. At the top of the personal Olympus Ingres, there was a place only for the main idol - Raphael. He was generally convinced that Raphael was the best thing that happened in the whole world of painting, and after him the history of art turned "somewhere in the wrong direction." Ingres saw his task in returning to Raphael and going from him in the right direction, continuing and developing his traditions. But Ingres could not stand Rubens, declaring that his painting to him "disgusting and hostile, like a ray of light, gloomy darkness".
"Portrait of Madame Moitessier". 1856
Speaking of Ingres, Delacroix is remembered. The confrontation between these titans - the confrontation between classicism and romanticism created tension in which French painting of those years developed. Antique motifs and plots, renaissance frescoes, worship of Raphael, the finest drawing, adherence to Ingres's classicism opposed the passion, sophisticated mastery of color and the romantic doctrine of Delacroix. The rivalry was balanced, perhaps, by their equally great talent.
Ingres was called the last stronghold of the classical school, but it was clearly underestimated. Because the Impressionists, who, among other things, this "stronghold" was called upon to resist, were admired by Ingres. His influence was recognized by the Fauvists led by Matisse, the Cubists led by Picasso. And all Theythese academism was not revered. So Ingres is much more than a classical tradition.
Self portrait at the age of 79 by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Also: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780 - 1867)
Original entry and comments on
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres - Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres 1780-1867. French artist, one of the brightest representatives of neoclassicism in painting.
Ingres was born in the southern French city of Montabana, the son of a talented sculptor and painter. As a child, he attended classes at the Toulouse Academy of Painting and at the same time learned to play the violin, but the artist's musicality was much more fully manifested later in the melodic and flexible lines of his paintings and drawings. In 1796, Ingres entered the workshop of David in Paris, after graduation he was awarded the Rome Prize for the painting "Ambassadors of Agamemnon at Achilles" and in 1806 he left for Italy, where he lived for 18 years (first in Rome, then in Florence), earning his life with graphic and pictorial portraits. Subsequently, already a renowned artist, he would return to Italy again as director of the French Academy in Rome (1834-1841).
Ingres entered the art of the 19th century primarily as the "heir" of David, the successor of the classical traditions of the end of the previous century. However, the cold and strict classicism of the teacher in the work of the student turns into a refined and original style, freely fusing the classical, romantic and realistic trends of the beginning of the century. The depth and originality of Ingres' art appeared already in the early period of his work. At this time, he creates wonderful portraits and compositions with nudes, as well as a series of paintings on mythological and historical themes ("Oedipus and the Sphinx", "Zeus and Thetis", "The Dream of Ossian", "Paolo and Francesca", "Roger and Angelica "," Entry of the Dauphin to Paris ", etc.), in which one of the first masters of the XIX century goes beyond the traditional classical subjects and the very style of classical painting.
The images of Ingres are deeply poetic and, for all their classicism, are often more "strange" and mysterious than the images of his romantic antipodes Delacroix and Géricault. Together with his works, for the first time, the open and pure color of Gothic and Persian miniatures, the flatness and deformation of the form, subject not only to the laws of anatomy and classical norms, but also to the emotional impulse of the artist, entered the painting of the new time for the first time. Striving for rhythmic expressiveness and purely plastic expression, Ingres sometimes boldly violated anatomical proportions - and it is not surprising that his images subsequently inspired such "non-canonical" masters as Odilon Redon and Pablo Picasso. However, starting from the 1820s, in the thematic works of Ingres, under the influence of Raphael's painting, academic notes begin to sound. In such works as "Vow of Louis XIII", "Apotheosis of Homer", "Saint Symphorion Going to Execution" or "Madonna with Communion", the free creative impulse of the master and the originality of his vision are weakened and extinguished, obeying the requirements of academic dogma.
The highest achievements of Ingres were not associated with these cold canvases, but with the "plotless" image of the nude. Here he was not constrained by official requirements, did not try to achieve the monumental greatness of Raphael and did not imitate his Madonnas. In the famous "bathers" and "odalisques" that Ingres created throughout his creative life ("Bathering Woman", "Bather Valpenson", "Little Bather", "Great Odalisque", "Odalisque with a Slave", "Source", "Turkish bath"), with particular force manifested his inherent understanding of art, the brightness of his vision, truthfulness in relation to nature and the ability to translate it into images of perfect beauty. Unlike his antagonist Delacroix, who sought beauty in incessant movement, in a fit and tragic confrontation of passions, Ingres embodied it in harmonious, stable, sculpturally clear, large-scale and at the same time filigree images. However, he was far from monotonous. His nudes are chastely strict and sensually full-blooded, intimate and exotic, mysterious and classically clear in form - and at the same time surrounded by no less beautiful things - precious utensils, patterned colored fabrics, etc. The artist’s pictorial manner is characterized by dense modeling, smooth texture, recreating, as it were, a hard shell of objects, and the refined beauty of color. But although Ingres owned the secret of the harmonic relations of color masses, the line remained the main means of his expression. In the nude images, she seems especially pure and musical, truly singing - conveying in her rhythms not the frozen features of the model, but the very life and movement of the form.
Another pole of the French master's art is portrait painting. Ingres valued her much less than the plot, and in his youth he often turned to her in search of a job, and in the prime of his fame, yielding to the requests of noble customers. Nevertheless, as a portrait painter, he belongs to the most outstanding masters of world art. Among his most famous portraits are those of the Riviere family, the publisher L. Bertin, the landscape painter F. Grene, Count Guriev, Ms. Zenon, Ms. Devosey, Baroness James Rothschild. Ingres created ceremonial images of Napoleon I, in which there is something of Van Eyck splendor, and sober, but full of inner strength, images of bourgeois figures from the time of the July Monarchy, such as the famous Louis Bertin, but all his works are marked by the stamp of classical statuary grandeur. The illusionistic verisimilitude characteristic of the 19th century in the depiction of the model is combined in them with an incomparable refinement of aesthetic interpretation, with the brightness of details, the refinement of linear rhythms and the boldness of color combinations. Particularly decorative are the female portraits of the master, who later admired Auguste Renoir for their brilliance.
A special area of Ingres' art is his graphic portrait, in which he inherited the best traditions of the French pencil portrait of the 16th century. Here the artist's ability to convey by means of pure graphics a sense of the inner life of the model and all the plastic and textural diversity of the surrounding reality is striking. Ingres's drawings are characterized by calligraphic precision, elegance of detail and a bold contrast between the detailed head of the model and the generalized outline of her figure. His images capture the concrete and at the same time, as it were, purified, timeless and harmonious being of the world. They seem direct and ideal, chiseled-solid and musically light, devoid of the heaviness of matter. It was in the pencil portrait that the highest gift of Ingres was fully manifested - his almost magical mastery of the line, which inspired Degas, Seurat and Renoir in the 19th century, and found in the works of Picasso and Matisse in the 20th century.
Princess de Brogli. 1851
Madame Moitessier 1856
Countess Louise de Ossonsville 1845
Madame Paula Saigisbert 1851
Baroness Rothschild. 1848
Napoleon Bonoparte - First Consul. 1804
Carolina Murat.1814
(Caroline Murat, nee Bonoparte, sister of Napoleon Bonoparte)
Amadeus de Pastore 1826 Madame Duvaset 1807
Madame Gonce-Larguet 1845 Charles Marcotte 1810
Madame Jacques-Louis Leblanc 1823 Madame Marcotte 1826
Madame Reset Paul Lemoyne
Dominique Ingres self-portrait. 1804
Raphael and Fornarina 1814
Ingres is one of the leading masters of the classical direction in France. The artist came from among the intelligentsia of Toulouse. He studied at the Toulouse Academy of Fine Arts. At the age of 17, Ingres ended up in revolutionary Paris, in David's atelier. Having mastered the classic system with its cult of antiquity, Ingres deliberately abandoned the revolutionary nature of David's classicism, denying modernity and expressing with his work the only desire - to escape life into the world of the ideal. Admiration for antiquity grew in Ingres into an almost blind admiration for it. Wanting to gain complete independence from his time, he turns only to the past.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Ingres left for Italy, where he painted a lot of the architecture of the Eternal City, and in one of the small tondos (circle), made in oil, depicted Raphael's house. This great Italian artist was an idol all his life, a role model for Ingres.
In Rome, the artist creates one of the best portraits of his friend - the artist Francois Marius Granet. In terms of mood, the portrait portends a new attitude of the romantics. A certain departure from the usual classicism, a foreshadowing of the romantic trend was the appearance in the works of Ingres of such an exotic motif as odalisques with their oriental attributes: turban, fan, chibouk, etc.
In the portraits of women, Ingres becomes overly fond of the entourage, accessories, various textures of objects: silk, velvet, lace, wallpaper damask. All this creates a complex ornamental pattern.
In the thematic paintings of the 10s, Ingres remains true to classicism - he takes themes from mythology, from the history of ancient times.
Developing the traditions of the French pencil portrait, Ingres creates "Portrait of Paganini", group portraits of the French consul Stamati, female pencil images, etc.
But his main work during this period is the altarpiece for the church of his native city of Montabana, called "The Vow of Louis XIII, asking for the patronage of the Madonna for the French kingdom." It was this creation that brought success to the artist, from now on he becomes the recognized head of the official French school.
In 1824, Ingres returned to his homeland after an 18-year absence, was elected an academician, awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor, opened his studio and from now on remains the leader of the official academic direction until the end of his days. Ingres was always far from politics and did not take part in the events of 1830.
The last years of the master, universally recognized and revered by all, are overshadowed by his fiercest battles, first with the romantics, led by Delacroix, then with the realists, who were represented by Courbet. Ingres works a lot in these advanced years, without losing his creative activity.
Ingres died when the realism of unvarnished reality had long flourished in France.
academicism19th century .“Above the hoop sat ... a beautiful, tall girl with carefully smoothed, shiny hair the color of a raven wing ... Her rare beauty was marked by strength and grace ... Thick eyebrows of the correct pattern sharply set off the whiteness of a clean forehead ... a slight blush, languid tenderness of the lips, perfection of the oval of the face.
“Beautiful black eyes with an almond-shaped slit ... shadowed with long eyelashes, shining with a wet sheen. Life and youth boasted of their treasures, as if embodied in this wayward face and in this camp, so slender, despite the belt tied in the then fashion under the very chest.
This is how Balzac describes his heroines, who lived in France at the beginning of the 19th century, contemporaries of Natasha Rostova. And artpainting gives us an amazing opportunity to see them with our own eyes.
Look at the portrait of the fifteen-year-old Mademoiselle Riviere - isn't it true, it seems that it was she who served as the prototype for the writer? We know that this is not so, but the very closeness of the images created by the writer and the artist is not accidental. She says that both scoopedinspiration from one source - the life of his era. The author of the pictorial portrait, an older contemporary of Balzac, is the famous French artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.
Ingres lived a long life, and it falls on the most turbulent, most disturbing years of French history. Revolution of 1789-1794; the triumph and collapse of the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte, whom the artist painted more than once; revolution of 1830 - Ingres, along with Delacroix, guarded the Louvre; revolution of 1848, reactionary coup of 1851, Second Empire. Among the contemporaries of Ingres are such artists as David, Delacroix, Courbet, Manet; among the writers - Stendhal, Balzac, Hugo, Flaubert, Zola.
Ingres is a Gascon. He was born on August 29, 1780 in Montauban, in the family of an artist. His father was his first teacher. He also taught the boy to play the violin, and while studying at the Toulouse Academy of Arts, in the 90s, the future painter worked part-time by playing in a theater orchestra. Passion for music also had an impact on the creative formation of the master, making him especially receptive to feelings.rhythm , harmony .
No wonder the artist later said to his students:
"If I could make you all musicians, you would win as painters."
Further artisticIngres received his education at the School of Fine Arts in Paris, in the workshop of the famous David, in 1797-1801. In addition to professionalskill , David sought to instill in his students his ideas about the high appointment of the artist in the life of society, that the purpose of art is to educate moral and civic virtues, to strive for a beautiful ideal.In his vision of classicism, Ingres did not share either the revolutionary tendencies of his teacher David or the conservatism of Canova; his ideal was the opposite of the romantic ideal of Delacroix, which led to a stubborn and sharp controversy with the latter. Most of all, Ingres was interested in the form, which he did not reduce to a certain ideal, but was associated with the originality of the subject of the image.
Admiration for antiquity also determined his attitude to nature - the artist must learn to see and display only the beautiful, sublime features of nature. To study ancient art, the best students were sent for four years to the French Academy in Rome. In 1801, Ingres received the Grand Prize of Rome, but due to financial difficulties, the trip to Italy was postponed, and the artist remains to work in Paris.
In 1806-1820. studies and works in Rome, then moves to Florence, where he spends another four years.
Already his first works, exhibitingexhibited at the Salon of 1806 - "Portrait of Napoleon", "Self-portrait", portraits of the Riviere family - attracted the attention of critics. But the reviews were mostly bewildered and unfriendly: the young painter was accused of being "gothic", that he wants to "return art four centuries ago, to the masters of the 15th century." And this was said about the canvases that now make up the pride of the Louvre!
What so confused the critics in the works of Ingres? First of all, that they were not similar either to the work of the masters of the 18th century, or to the portraits of his teacher David. And it was not only unusual, "otherness"forms , but also in a new attitude to the human person, which is developing in post-revolutionary France and which was one of the first to feel andcaptured in art by a painter from Montauban. The Great Revolution highlighted the role and significance of man in a new way, and these ideas were akin to that “discovery of the world and man” that marked the Renaissance.
In the 19th century, a person is aware of his individual self-worth, but due to a number of social factors, this turns into a heightened sense of the split between the personal and the public, which as a result gives rise to individualism, isolation from the world, alien to the perception of the Renaissance. people onportraits XV-XVI centuries exist as part of humanity,characters Ingres are emphatically isolated... They seem to be fenced off from the rest of the world by an invisible barrier, it is difficult to imagine them in the circle of family and friends.
Portrait of Mademoiselle Riviere -one of the artist's most famous paintings. The figure of a girl in a white dress, like a monument, rises against the background of the landscape. Sculpture molding, clear linesilhouette highlight this impression. All means of artistic expression are aimed at revealing the significance of the model. Perhaps the artist does it intuitively, but he cannot do otherwise, he sees it this way, he feels it this way - he is the son of his era. Ingres sought to capture the beautiful appearance of a girl, to preserve in time such a fragile, such a short-lived gift as youth, beauty. Moreover, beauty for him is not only an aesthetic concept, but also a moral one, inextricably linked with ideas of goodness, humanity, and justice. We do not know what this round-faced, black-browed girl was in reality (we only know that she died in the year the portrait was created), we do not know if she had the significance and strength that the painter endowed her with, but we believe him. The image turned out to be in tune with the era - open the books of Balzac, Stendhal - Mademoiselle Riviere will naturally enter the world of literary heroes of that time.
Madame Riviere is an elegant society lady whose spiritual world is not particularly deep, and Ingres does not hide this. But how beautiful her portrait is, how perfect every line, every detail breathes here, how harmoniously the figure of a woman fits into an oval, the outlines of which seem to “rhyme” with soft rounded shapes. How much femininity and charm in her face, in the dark tonsils of her eyes, in the pattern of her lips! With what skill Ingres conveyedinvoice precious Kashmiri shawl, silky blue velvet, shading the warm freshness of the neck, the whiteness of the arms and shoulders. All lines are subject to a single musical rhythm, not a single detail violates the harmony of the whole. One scholar of art rightly remarked:
"Ingres, like King Midas, everything, what he saw and what his brush touched, he turned into the gold of true art.
Some “alienation” is also noted in the portrait of Madame Riviere: the very shape of the oval, with its completeness, emphasizes this feeling and, as it were, closes the boundaries of the individual world of the model.
A different emotional atmosphere reigns in Ingres' drawings. Here everything becomes more humane, simpler. People communicate with each other with an "open mind". This is how they appear in The Forestier Family of 1806. Trustingly smiling, the young bride of Ingres, Julie Forestier, looks at us, not yet knowing what awaits her ahead.annulment of engagement. Near her sits her mother with her brother, on the other side of the harpsichord is her father, Clotilde is visible in the doorway, a servant, mademoiselle, confided in the secrets, through which the lovers sent notes and letters to each other. The drawing is fast, light, the line is sniper accurate and elegant. It seems that the pencil barely touches the surface of the sheet, giving the master's drawings a special quality - transparency and spirituality. Both volume and a sense of spatial depth are preserved. It is noteworthy that the artist usually works out in detail in the drawing only the head and some fragments of the costume - cuff, collar, but this doesXia is so artistic that the remaining, barely outlined details acquire convincing authenticity. With this brevity, the characters are perfectly conveyed, the very atmosphere of home comfort, the spiritual closeness of people. Drawing is the strongest and indisputable side of Ingres' talent. Here he does not subordinate his talent to theories, he draws like a birdsings, of course, simply, beautifully. In addition to portraits, magnificent images of nudes have survived, manysketches ,
sketches ,
sketches to the pictures.
In the same year, 1806, when the portrait of the Forestier family was made, Ingres went to Italy as a scholarship holder of the French Academy in Rome. Italian cities with theirglorified cultural monuments, palaces and museums made a great impression on the young artist. All day long, with an album in his hands, he looks, studies and does not get tired of admiring. Particularly attracted by its antiquity, the masters of the XV century and Raphael. The portrait of the artist Granet in 1807 bears a reflection of that enthusiasm, that excited state of mind in which the French painter was in Italy.
Granet is depicted against the background of the Romanlandscape : it seems as if he suddenly turned towards the viewcalf, interrupting the walk. His soulful face is agitated, his eyes sparkle with excitement, hesitating wildly as if from the quick movement of a strand of hair. The sublime elation of the image, interest in the transient state of the human soul, mood, emotions, and finally, the dynamics that permeate the portrait, all these are harbingers of a romantic worldview. In general, many, especially early, works of the master from Montauban - "Zeus and Thetis" of 1811, "The Dream of Ossian" of 1811, "Paolo and Francesca" of 1819 - reveal an undoubtedcloseness to romanticism, although later Ingres became a fierce opponent of this trend and is traditionally considered one of the leading representatives of classicism.
The portrait of the beautiful Devose belongs to the same time.(1807). combination of rareharmony of forms with a sense ofearly voltage, somehidden, as if smolderingdeep down the fire distinguishes this work. Many years later, when Ingres was already a famous artist, one day an elderly, poorly dressed wife came to him.Schina and offered to buy a painting from her. Glancing, the shocked Ingres recognized Madame Devose.
Working on portraits, the master sought to reveal in a person the most sublime and beautiful features of his appearance. Therefore, he succeeded best of all in those works where the model itself to a greater extent corresponded to the ideal of the artist, his ideas about beauty. These are the portraits of Zelya, the beautiful Marie Marcos, Madame Moitessier. However, Ingres' works capture not only images full of feminine charm and harmony, but also images of genuine Balzac strength and deep social insight. Such is the portrait of the publisher Bertin the Elder (1832). What strength is in his "lion's" head, imperious look, how much energy, confidence in this middle-aged man, his posture, hand gesture, in short tenacious fingers! This is an image that embodies the triumph of personal initiative, intelligence, business acumen, a person who feels great in the “community of a chistogan”.
Another area, along with the portrait, in which Ingres' talent was revealed in full force, were works depicting the nude. Worshiping beauty and harmony, he creates a magnificent “Great Odalisque” (1814), full of femininity, perfect in form “Seated Bather” (1808).The works of Ingres, which embodied his understanding of the nude female nature, were widely known, such as the so-called. "Odalisque of Valpinson" (1808), "Venus Anadyomene" (1848). However, Ingres is prone to self-quoting, and the pose of the figure in "Venus Anadyomene" is repeated one to one in the paintings "Source" (1856) and "Turkish Baths" (1863). The last work is a kind of "retrospective" of the images he foundnude ; recognizable, in particular, is the figure of Valpinson's Odalisque in the foreground.
However, Ingres considered the creation of large compositions on historical and religious themes to be the main business of his life. It was in them that he sought to express hisaesthetic views and ideals, it was with them that he connected the hope for fame and recognition. The huge canvas "The Vow of Louis XIII", exhibited at the Salon of 1824, although it brought Ingres official recognition and an order, gives the impression of an internally cold, far-fetched composition. The idea underlying it was false: in terms of subject matter, this work corresponded to the views of the most reactionary circles of society that restored the Bourbons. 
They were not slow to attract such an outstanding talent to their side. Ingres performs a number of official orders, creatingno huge multi-figure compositions, gives these works years of long exhausting work, and the results are negligible - things turn out to be dry and inexpressive. Such is the "Apotheosis of Homer", "St. Symphorion","Handover of the keys to St. Peter".
He also painted large program canvases; however, with all the skill and perseverance invested in these works, their content was in a certain sense divorced from the problems and needs of the time, which gave them a certain eclecticism and coldness.
This was the tragedy of the artist, who every time he began to paint a new portrait, looked at him as an annoying hindrance, tearing him away from large paintings. But Ingres was wrong, believing that it was these paintings that would bring him immortality. He entered the history of art primarily as a magnificent portrait painter and a wonderful master of drawing.
Ingres entered the history of French painting primarily as a magnificent portrait painter. Among the many portraits he painted, it is especially worth noting the portraits of the supplier of the imperial army, Philibert Riviera, his wife and daughter Caroline, of which the last one is best known (all three - 1805); portraits of Napoleon - the first consul (1803-04) and the emperor (1806); Louis-François Bertin (senior), director of the Journal des débats (1832).
In 1824 he returned to Paris and opened a painting school.
In 1835 he returned to Rome again as director of the French Academy.
From 1841 until the end of his life he lived in Paris.
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres died on January 14, 1867 and was buried in the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
Ingres was the first of the artists to reduce the problem of art to the originality of artistic vision. That is why, despite the classical orientation, his painting attracted the close interest of the Impressionists (Degas, Renoir), Cezanne, Post-Impressionists (especially Seurat), Picasso.
V. STARODUBOVA
ENGRE ABOUT DRAWING
Drawing - this is the highest honesty of art.
Drawing is not just about making outlines; A drawing is not just lines. Drawing is also expressiveness, inner form, plan, modeling...
You have to draw incessantly, draw with your eyes when you can't draw with a pencil. Until you coordinate accurate observation with practice, you will not create anything really good.
... In nature, everything is harmonious: a little more, a little less - this already violates the scale and gives a false note. It is necessary to achieve the ability to sing correctly with a pencil or brush and as well as with a voice. The precision of forms is the same as the precision of sounds.
When studying nature, pay attention first of all to the whole. Ask him, and only him. Details are arrogant small things that should be reasoned with ...
Pay attention to the relationship of quantities in the model; they have all the character. Let them amaze you right away, and you immediately capture them ... The figure that you want to convey should be completely in your mind before your eyes, and its execution should be nothing more than the embodiment of the image that your idea has already mastered.
When sketching a figure, try first of all to define and well characterize its movement. I will constantly repeat to you: movement is life.
The simpler the lines and shapes, the more beauty and strength. Every time you dismember forms, you weaken them. This always leads to fragmentation, in whatever it was.
Why don't they create big characters? Because instead of one large form, three small ones are made.
When building a figure, do not create it in parts. Coordinate everything at the same time and, as they say, draw an ensemble.
The completeness of the form will be revealed at the end of the work. Some are content in drawing with feeling; once the feeling is shown - they have enough. Here is Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci, proving that feeling and precision can be combined.
The great artists Raphael and Michelangelo, finishing the work, insisted on the line. With a thin brush, they once again confirmed it, thus enlivening the outline. They gave the drawing nerves and passion.
Sleight of hand is acquired by experience; but the veracity of feeling and understanding is what must manifest itself in the first place and, to a certain extent, can replace everything else.
Always have an album with you and mark with at least four strokes of a pencil the items that interest you, if there is no time to mark them in full. But if you have free time to make a more accurate sketch, take the model with love, examine it and reproduce it in all aspects so that you absorb it into your consciousness and have it grow into it as your own.
Outer contours should never be concave. On the contrary, they should protrude, round, like a wicker willow basket.
The length of the torso in men, both tall and short, differs little. So, a torso that is large compared to the length of the legs indicates a small stature; a short torso indicates a person's tall stature.
The line of the head never passes directly into the line of the neck; this circuit is always interrupted.
When working on the image of the head, the main concern of the master is to make the eyes speak, even with their most general designation.
