Masters in Art, Part 79, Volume 7, July, 1906: Ingres: A Series of Illustrated Monographs
General
Masters in Art, Part 79, Volume 7, July, 1906: Ingres: A Series of Illustrated Monographs
Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominique, 1780-1867; Painters -- France -- Biography; Portrait painting, French -- 19th century
Thus the painter of 'The Vow of Louis XIII.' and of
'St. Symphorien' stood half way between the cold idealism of the
classicists and the brutal realism of the romanticists. It is but just
to say, however, that in his _teaching_ Ingres was wholly one-sided,
thinking no doubt that to gain a little, much must be demanded. In
teaching that "drawing is everything, that all may be expressed by
line, even smoke," he tended towards painting without relief, devoid
of all planes. By dint of preaching austerity of tone and training his
pupils to beware of colorists, he veiled his whole school in gray. The
logical outcome of this was to drive painting into an extreme directly
opposed to that which he wished to avoid; that is to say, into the
dryness of sharply defined contours and a contempt for methods purely
picturesque.
Such was unquestionably the harmful side of Ingres' influence. But,
on the other hand, it was he who taught, by his works even more
than by his words, that nature is idealized by freeing her from all
unimportant details, by selecting only her significant traits; that
in order not to petrify forms by generalizing them, we must simplify
types by individual characteristics taken directly from life; that
drawing, which appeals to the heart, is superior to color, which
pleases the eye; that nude figures are more beautiful than clothed;
that drapery is more artistic than costume; that the portrayal
of human passions, in that they are eternal, is superior to any
ethnographical representation of changing manners. In a word, that
there is a higher and a lower order of art....
So powerful was the influence of this great artist as leader of the
French school that it extended to all branches of art. Painting,
sculpture, engraving, even architecture and music, were affected by
his love of the great, his feeling for the beautiful. He cared for and
he advocated what is everywhere purest and finest: Greek art of the
most perfect periods, the marbles of Phidias, the frescos of Raphael,
the engravings of Marcantonio, the music of Gluck and of Mozart, the
poetry of Homer.
As a painter Ingres was no doubt unequal, but he was always admirable
in some respect and always a master, even in his faults. Vast
compositions were beyond the powers of his imagination, whose fire
burned but briefly. It was only with difficulty and after many changes
and hesitations that he was able to compose his pictures, but the
composition was achieved with a severe taste and a sure touch, and was
founded on some tradition carefully chosen and faithfully carried out.
His short-breathed genius excelled above all in compositions of only
one or two figures, such as 'Œdipus,' 'The Bather,' 'La Source,'
'Venus Anadyomene.'...
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