One of Ingres’s largest and most ambitious portrait drawings, this work depicts the Parisian society hostess, writer, and critic the Comtesse Marie d’Agoult and her daughter Claire. Ingres typically produced his portrait drawings without preparation and in a single sitting. This work, in contrast, required at least two sittings and three preparatory studies. The drawing is notable for its evocation of the richly furnished interior of d’Agoult’s home. The artist selectively applied yellow watercolor to enhance objects and added white heightening to the sitters’ dresses to suggest the sheen of silk.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
French, 1780–1867
Comtesse Charles d’Agoult (Born Marie de Flavigny) and Her Daughter Claire d’Agoult, 1849
Graphite, heightened with white opaque watercolor, with touches of yellow watercolor
The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray; 2019.852
Gray Collection Trust, Art Institute of Chicago
Photography by Art Institute of Chicago Imaging Department
Jennifer Tonkovich: Ingres was seen by his contemporaries as Raphael's heir for his graceful manner, an aspect of his style particularly evident in his drawings. His precise manner of wielding his pencil set a standard for graphite drawing that dominated the 19th century and remained a source of inspiration and challenge for modern artists, from Picasso to de Kooning and Hockney. Ingres was meticulous in his approach to the carefully composed portrait of Madame d’Agoult and her daughter. Notice the plants in the background and the reflections in the mirror above the mantle. The artist was 69 years old when he produced this complex dual portrait. It can be seen in contrast to the swiftly-executed portraits of his youth, which generated an essential income stream for the emerging artist. Such portraits feature a fashionably-dressed figure shown three quarters length on a blank page. For this mature study, he lingered longer, artfully situating the full-length seated forms of the women in a detailed interior. The elegant formal arrangement of Ingres's portrait is not that different from Leger's use of mechanized women's bodies as design elements. Both artists reveled in the formal structure in which bodies, furniture, and architecture are treated in a consistent manner. In both sheets, the severe linearity is modulated by the women's accoutrements, Leger's bouquets and Ingres's rustling silks. What strikes me most about the portrait of Madame d’Agoult and her daughter, alongside the Leger, is the emphasis that both artists have placed on the dark, curvilinear swaths of the women's hair, introducing a soft, pliable element into a crystalline atmosphere.