TripImprover - Get More out of Your Museum Visits!
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Museums
    • Alte Pinakothek
    • Art Institute of Chicago
    • Baltimore Museum of Art
    • Barber Institute of Fine Arts
    • Bargello
    • Barnes Foundation
    • British Museum
    • Church of Sant’Anastasia
    • Cleveland Museum of Art
    • Courtauld Institute of Art
    • Detroit Institute of Arts
    • Frans Hals Museum
    • Galleria Borghese
    • Gallerie dell'Accademia
    • Getty Museum
    • Guggenheim
    • Hermitage Museum
    • Kunsthistorisches Museum
    • Kunstmuseum Basel
    • Legion of Honor Museum
    • Louvre
    • Mauritshuis
    • Metropolitan Museum of Art
    • Musee d’Orsay
    • Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
    • Museum of Modern Art
    • National Gallery in London
    • National Gallery of Art
    • National Museum in Poznań
    • Norton Simon Museum
    • Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
    • Palace of Versailles
    • Palazzo Pitti
    • Palazzo Vecchio
    • Petit Palais
    • Philadelphia Museum of Art
    • Prado
    • Pushkin Museum
    • Ravenna Art Museum
    • Rijksmuseum
    • San Diego Museum of Art
    • Santa Maria delle Grazie
    • Städel Museum
    • Statens Museum for Kunst
    • Tate Britain
    • Tate Modern
    • Timken Museum of Art
    • Uffizi
    • Vatican Museums
    • Wallace Collection
  • Artists
    • Altdorfer
    • Anguissola
    • Berlin Painter
    • Bosch
    • Botticelli
    • Boucher
    • Bronzino
    • Bruegel the Elder
    • Cabanel
    • Caillebotte
    • Canova
    • Caravaggio
    • Carpeaux
    • Cezanne
    • Cimabue
    • David
    • Degas
    • Delacroix
    • De Maria
    • Donatello
    • El Greco
    • Fontana
    • Fra Angelico
    • Fragonard
    • Gauguin
    • Gentileschi
    • Gericault
    • Gonzalez-Torres
    • Goya
    • Hals
    • Hogarth
    • Hokusai
    • Ingres
    • Leonardo da Vinci
    • Lippi, Filippo
    • Longhi, Barbara
    • Lorrain
    • Makovsky
    • Manet
    • Massys
    • Matisse
    • Michelangelo
    • Modigliani
    • Monet
    • Panini
    • Parmigianino
    • Perugino
    • Picasso
    • Pisanello
    • Raphael
    • Rembrandt
    • Renoir
    • Reynolds
    • Rivera
    • Rodin
    • Rubens
    • Scultori
    • Seurat
    • Steen
    • Tintoretto
    • Titian
    • Toulouse-Lautrec
    • Turner
    • Uccello
    • Van der Weyden
    • Van Dyck
    • Van Eyck
    • Van Gogh
    • Van Hemessen
    • Vasari
    • Velazquez
    • Vermeer
    • Veronese
    • Vigée Le Brun
  • Locations
    • Austria >
      • Vienna
    • Denmark >
      • Copenhagen
    • England >
      • Birmingham
      • London
    • France >
      • Paris
      • Versailles
    • Germany >
      • Frankfurt
      • Munich
    • Italy >
      • Bologna
      • Florence
      • Milan
      • Ravenna
      • Rome
      • Venice
      • Verona
    • Poland >
      • Poznań
    • Russia >
      • Moscow
      • Saint Petersburg
    • Spain >
      • Madrid
    • Switzerland >
      • Basel
    • The Netherlands >
      • Amsterdam
      • Haarlem
      • The Hague
    • United States >
      • Baltimore
      • Boston
      • Chicago
      • Cleveland
      • Detroit
      • Los Angeles
      • New York
      • Pasadena
      • Philadelphia
      • San Diego
      • San Francisco
      • Washington, DC
  • Books
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Friends and Resources

La Grande Odalisque by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

12/3/2019

0 Comments

 
La Grande Odalisque by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres in the Louvre Museum in Paris
Where? Room 702 on the first floor of the Louvre
When? 1814
What do you see? A young courtesan rests atop some brightly colored blue and ochre fabrics from the east. She is surrounded by treasures from the orient—a bejeweled mirror just behind her, a red hookah at her feet, and beautiful patterned drapes that hang from above.

​She is nude, except for the exquisite oriental headdress atop her head and a few golden bracelets on her wrist. Her elongated right arm holds a beautiful peacock feather fan. She is modestly seductive, her eroticism simultaneously augmented and veiled by the mysticism of the east.

Backstory: La Grande Odalisque was commissioned in 1813 by Napoleon’s sister, Caroline Murat, the Queen of Naples. The painting was admitted into the Salon of 1819 but received harsh criticism for a number of reasons.

Firstly, this nude by Ingres was different from many reclining nudes of the past as those were painted in a mythological context, making them more appropriate for public display. The most famous work in this genre is the Venus of Urbino by Titian. Ingres, instead, veiled his nude in the mysticism of the east, a theme emphasized by many neoclassical painters like David and Delacroix. Nonetheless, the eroticism caused much discourse.

Secondly, Ingres received criticism for his exaggerated and inaccurate rendition of human anatomy. Influenced by the 16th-century Mannerism art movement, Ingres elongated the body of his subject in numerous areas including her spine, right arm, and left leg. 
Picture
Venus of Urbino by Titian in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence
Who is Ingres? Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French painter born in born in 1780 in Montauban. His father was an artist and musician, and his mother was a wigmaker. His parents exposed him to the arts from an early age; he enrolled in art school, studying both sculpture and painting.

In 1797, Ingres began studying with Jacques-Louis David, and, in 1799, he was admitted to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Eventually, he won the Grand Prix de Rome, a prestigious art prize that allowed him to work in Rome for five years.

While in Rome, he was commissioned by the Murat family in Naples to paint several portraits, though he never received payment for these paintings because of the fall of Napoleon’s empire. Stranded in Rome with no patronage, Ingres resorted to making portraits for English tourists.

​Soon, Ingres returned to France where he regained popularity with his The Vow of Louis XIII. However, he also continued to paint portraits including his portraits of Madame Moitessier, of which one version is in the National Gallery in London and another version in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
The Vow of Louis XIII by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
The Vow of Louis XIII by Ingres
Madame Moitessier by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC
Madame Moitessier by Ingres in the National Gallery of Art
Fun fact: When looking at the woman, you can clearly see in her lower back that she has a few more vertebrae than normal. Critics of La Grande Odalisque often estimated that Ingres had added three extra vertebrae to his figure. However, a study conducted in 2004 showed that Ingres had actually added approximately five vertebrae to his model. This number was calculated by measuring female models and scaling them to the size of Ingres’s painting. Such an elongation suited the personal taste of Ingres who was influenced by Mannerism. He thought long and curved lines accentuated the sensuality and beauty of a figure. 

Written by Sabrina Tian

References:
  • Biography of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
  • Condon, Patricia (2019), “Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominique,.” Grove Art, June 8.
  • Louvre Museum – Une Odalisque.
  • Maigne, Jean-Yves, Gilles Chatellier, and Hélène Norlöff (2004) “Extra Vertebrae in Ingres' La Grande Odalisque.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 97(7), 342-344.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Academic Art
    Altdorfer
    Alte Pinakothek
    Amsterdam
    Anguissola
    Art Institute Of Chicago
    Baltimore
    Baltimore Museum Of Art
    Barber Institute Of Fine Arts
    Bargello
    Barnes Foundation
    Baroque
    Basel
    Berlin Painter
    Birmingham
    Bologna
    Bosch
    Boston
    Botticelli
    Boucher
    British Museum
    Bronzino
    Bruegel The Elder
    Byzantine Art
    Cabanel
    Caillebotte
    Canova
    Caravaggio
    Carpeaux
    Cezanne
    Cézanne
    Chicago
    Cimabue
    Classical Antiquity
    Cleveland
    Cleveland Museum Of Art
    Copenhagen
    Courtauld Gallery
    Cubism
    David
    Degas
    Delacroix
    De Maria
    Detroit
    Detroit Institute Of Arts
    Donatello
    El Greco
    Filippo Lippi
    Florence
    Fontana
    Fra Angelico
    Fragonard
    Frankfurt
    Frans Hals Museum
    Galleria Borghese
    Gallerie Dell'Accademia
    Gauguin
    Gentileschi
    Gericault
    Getty Museum
    Gonzalez-Torres
    Gothic
    Goya
    Grand Style
    Guggenheim
    Haarlem
    Hals
    Hermitage
    Hogarth
    Hokusai
    Impressionism
    Ingres
    International Gothic
    Kunsthistorisches Museum
    Kunstmuseum
    Legion Of Honor
    Leonardo Da Vinci
    London
    Longhi
    Lorrain
    Los Angeles
    Louvre
    Madrid
    Makovsky
    Manet
    Massys
    Matisse
    Mauritshuis
    Metropolitan Museum Of Art
    Michelangelo
    Milan
    Modern Art
    Modigliani
    Monet
    Moscow
    Munich
    Musee D'Orsay
    Museum Of Fine Arts
    Museum Of Modern Art
    National Gallery In London
    National Gallery Of Art
    National Museum In Poznan
    Neoclassicism
    New York
    Northern Renaissance
    Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek
    Palace Of Versailles
    Palazzo Pitti
    Palazzo Vecchio
    Panini
    Paris
    Parmigianino
    Perugino
    Petit Palais
    Philadelphia
    Philadelphia Museum Of Art
    Picasso
    Pinacoteca Nazionale
    Pisanello
    Post Impressionism
    Poznan
    Prado
    Pushkin Museum
    Raphael
    Ravenna
    Realism
    Rembrandt
    Renaissance
    Renoir
    Reynolds
    Rijksmuseum
    Rivera
    Rococo
    Rodin
    Romanticism
    Rome
    Rubens
    Saint Petersburg
    San Diego
    San Diego Museum Of Art
    San Francisco
    Scultori
    Seurat
    Sfumato
    Sistine Chapel
    Social Realism
    Spanish Renaissance
    Statens Museum For Kunst
    Steen
    Tate Britain
    Tate Modern
    The Hague
    Timken Museum Of Art
    Tintoretto
    Titian
    Toulouse Lautrec
    Toulouse-Lautrec
    Turner
    Uccello
    Uffizi
    Ukiyo-e
    Van Der Weyden
    Van Dyck
    Van Eyck
    Van Gogh
    Van Hemessen
    Vasari
    Vatican Museums
    Veduta
    Velázquez
    Venice
    Vermeer
    Verona
    Veronese
    Vienna
    Vigee Le Brun
    Wallace Collection
    Washington

Home

Blog

BOOKS

Contact

© COPYRIGHT 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Museums
    • Alte Pinakothek
    • Art Institute of Chicago
    • Baltimore Museum of Art
    • Barber Institute of Fine Arts
    • Bargello
    • Barnes Foundation
    • British Museum
    • Church of Sant’Anastasia
    • Cleveland Museum of Art
    • Courtauld Institute of Art
    • Detroit Institute of Arts
    • Frans Hals Museum
    • Galleria Borghese
    • Gallerie dell'Accademia
    • Getty Museum
    • Guggenheim
    • Hermitage Museum
    • Kunsthistorisches Museum
    • Kunstmuseum Basel
    • Legion of Honor Museum
    • Louvre
    • Mauritshuis
    • Metropolitan Museum of Art
    • Musee d’Orsay
    • Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
    • Museum of Modern Art
    • National Gallery in London
    • National Gallery of Art
    • National Museum in Poznań
    • Norton Simon Museum
    • Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
    • Palace of Versailles
    • Palazzo Pitti
    • Palazzo Vecchio
    • Petit Palais
    • Philadelphia Museum of Art
    • Prado
    • Pushkin Museum
    • Ravenna Art Museum
    • Rijksmuseum
    • San Diego Museum of Art
    • Santa Maria delle Grazie
    • Städel Museum
    • Statens Museum for Kunst
    • Tate Britain
    • Tate Modern
    • Timken Museum of Art
    • Uffizi
    • Vatican Museums
    • Wallace Collection
  • Artists
    • Altdorfer
    • Anguissola
    • Berlin Painter
    • Bosch
    • Botticelli
    • Boucher
    • Bronzino
    • Bruegel the Elder
    • Cabanel
    • Caillebotte
    • Canova
    • Caravaggio
    • Carpeaux
    • Cezanne
    • Cimabue
    • David
    • Degas
    • Delacroix
    • De Maria
    • Donatello
    • El Greco
    • Fontana
    • Fra Angelico
    • Fragonard
    • Gauguin
    • Gentileschi
    • Gericault
    • Gonzalez-Torres
    • Goya
    • Hals
    • Hogarth
    • Hokusai
    • Ingres
    • Leonardo da Vinci
    • Lippi, Filippo
    • Longhi, Barbara
    • Lorrain
    • Makovsky
    • Manet
    • Massys
    • Matisse
    • Michelangelo
    • Modigliani
    • Monet
    • Panini
    • Parmigianino
    • Perugino
    • Picasso
    • Pisanello
    • Raphael
    • Rembrandt
    • Renoir
    • Reynolds
    • Rivera
    • Rodin
    • Rubens
    • Scultori
    • Seurat
    • Steen
    • Tintoretto
    • Titian
    • Toulouse-Lautrec
    • Turner
    • Uccello
    • Van der Weyden
    • Van Dyck
    • Van Eyck
    • Van Gogh
    • Van Hemessen
    • Vasari
    • Velazquez
    • Vermeer
    • Veronese
    • Vigée Le Brun
  • Locations
    • Austria >
      • Vienna
    • Denmark >
      • Copenhagen
    • England >
      • Birmingham
      • London
    • France >
      • Paris
      • Versailles
    • Germany >
      • Frankfurt
      • Munich
    • Italy >
      • Bologna
      • Florence
      • Milan
      • Ravenna
      • Rome
      • Venice
      • Verona
    • Poland >
      • Poznań
    • Russia >
      • Moscow
      • Saint Petersburg
    • Spain >
      • Madrid
    • Switzerland >
      • Basel
    • The Netherlands >
      • Amsterdam
      • Haarlem
      • The Hague
    • United States >
      • Baltimore
      • Boston
      • Chicago
      • Cleveland
      • Detroit
      • Los Angeles
      • New York
      • Pasadena
      • Philadelphia
      • San Diego
      • San Francisco
      • Washington, DC
  • Books
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • Friends and Resources