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
To animate painting by qualities purely sensual, to make a lavish
display of the gorgeous splendor of brilliant stuffs, rich brocades
and velvets, and gold and silver plate, to paint in glowing rosy hues
and amid voluptuous surroundings the plumpness of naked flesh, aroused
his indignation and his repugnance as if such art were a desecration.
That is why he held Rubens in abhorrence. "There is something of the
butcher in that painter," he used to say; "his flesh is like fresh
meat, and his setting like a butcher's stall."
Such was the force of Ingres' convictions, such the rigorous decrees
of his conscience in regard to what he considered the good and the
evil in painting, that his violent antipathies were not confined to a
man's work, but extended to the man himself, even were he no longer
living. "You are my pupils," he would say to the young artists working
under him, "therefore you are my friends, and as such you would not
bow to one of my enemies were he to pass along the street. Turn away,
then, from Rubens whenever you meet him in the galleries, for if you
approach him he will be sure to speak evil to you of my teaching and
of me."
Going one day before the opening of the Exposition of 1855 into the
room especially reserved for his works, and to which the public had
not yet been admitted, he suspected that the keeper, in disobedience
to orders, had just allowed Delacroix to enter. "Some one has been in
here," he cried; "the room smells of brimstone!"
In sacrificing color to line, the charm of light to the eloquence
of form, the pleasure of the eye to the enjoyment of the mind, the
sensual delight of the palette to the intellectual enjoyment of
style, Ingres realized a great ideal, founded as much, perhaps, upon
the absence of certain qualities as upon the triumphant presence
of certain others. His temperament, so restrained in his color, is
revealed in his nervous, vigorous drawing. It is evident from the
valuable studies preserved in the Museum of Montauban what tremendous
struggles he underwent when he took his pencil in hand. What efforts,
what will-power! What frankness and boldness of execution, and what
scrupulous conscientiousness in his repeated attempts! There were
times when he would weep in utter despair. "I can no longer draw!" he
would lament, even at the time when he was at the head of the French
school. Color never caused him such agony. He never worried his head
about that; it was sure to come, sober and subdued, following the
drawing like a docile slave whose duty it is to escort his master, to
keep step with him, but at a respectful distance. No great draftsman,
he declared, could ever fail to find the color that would best suit
the character of his drawing. And again, he said, "I shall write
over the door of my studio, 'School of Drawing,' and I shall make
painters."...
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account