The artist inscribed the word "Vienn[e]" on the sheet, linking it to his 1853 painting of the City of Vienna, one of a series of eight allegorical pictures devoted to cities conquered by Napoleon for the vault surrounding the Apotheosis of Napoleon in the Hôtel de Ville, Paris. The decorations were destroyed by fire during the Paris Commune on May 24, 1871. Only the center panel is now known through an oil sketch (Musée des beaux-arts de la ville de Paris, PPP 4645). Ingres executed this center panel himself, while the allegories of Vienna, Rome, Milan, Naples, Moscow, Cairo, Berlin, and Madrid were produced by the students in his vast atelier, including Desgoffe, Raymond, and Paul Balze, Paul Flandrin, Cornu, Magimel, Pichon, and Cambon.
In 1859, Rouget produced drawings of the Salon de l'Empereur decorations, which were translated into a suite of forty-two steel engravings by Sellier and Rebel. The series includes a reproduction of the Vienna panel. The robed figure wears a tall headdress and is seated with a view of the city by her feet, leaning against a broken column, sword to her side. Initially, Ingres outlined the figure with both legs flat on the ground in front of her but then revised the figure's right leg to be shown bent. The drawing comprises three pieces of paper. The one at left is marked with the title, the edge of which was trimmed, and the word "panneau" reflecting the division of the mural into sections.
The figure's calm pose is found in other works by Ingres from this period, including his 1862 canvases The Age of Gold (Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge) and The Turkish Bath (Louvre, Paris).
Various notations and measurements by the artist along the central vertical, "vienn / 2- / panneau / 3-"; partial signature (/) at lower left, "In". Stamped with the artist's initials, “JI,” at upper left (Lugt 1477).
Heinemann, Rudolf J., former owner.
Heinemann, Lore, former owner.