Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

This sheet, which reveals much about Ingres's working method, was made in preparation for one of his most lauded, albeit controversial, paintings, The Martyrdom of St. Symphorien. The artist worked on the painting from 1825 until 1834; over two hundred preparatory drawings are preserved in the Musée Ingres, Montauban, including a copy of this sheet on tracing paper. Many critics excoriated the finished composition when it was exhibited at the Salon, prompting the artist to flee Paris and wounding his pride.
Symphorien was a youth martyred in his native Augustodunum (present-day Autun) in about 160-79 for refusing to prostrate himself before the idol of the pagan goddess Cybele. Arrested and flogged for heresy, he refused to recant. The painting was commissioned by the bishop of Autun for the cathedral, where it remains in situ.
The legs that dominate the page are for the lector, who stands to the left of the saint. The legs at upper left are for an adjacent figure and the leg at the right is for a figure standing to the saint's right. The profile is for a bearded man adjacent to the latter. The hand with the baton is a study for one of the soldiers seen in the background. Ingres invested a great deal of time and effort in planning the painting, and its poor reception was felt deeply by the artist.