Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867)

A glorious work to dip in and out of, with myriads of pictures and drawings and wondrous biographies of the people Ingres painted. It's amusing to read the biographies but the paintings tell the same story. Ingres tells you most of what you need to know! in his wonderful portraits.
I went to the London exhibition in 1999 and couldn't afford this catalogue at the time but found my copy in a charity shop yesterday. Such serendipity.
If you do not know the story of how Ingres and his wife met I show more beg you to research this. :-) And they say internet dating is fraught. Ingres and his first wife became engaged sight unseen!
I do recall a simply wonderful sketch of Madeleine, his wife, at the London exhibition which was the most astonishingly lively and loving portrait I have ever seen. Sadly I cannot find a reproduction of this in the book but it is a mighty tome and I shall keep looking. show less

I chose this not because I like Ingres but because I could finish it by leaving time. It was very good. His arms are peculiar but the rest of his models was great. I didn't like his Greek myth stuff which he loved.

Catalogue of an exhibition at the following venues:

National Gallery, London - January 27-April 25, 1999; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC - May 23-August 22, 1999; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - September 27, 1999-January 2, 2000

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