Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1781-1867) arrived at
David's studio around 1814. His study there was to be short lived, however, as he soon broke with David on matters of style. This
difference of opinion involved Ingre's adoption of a manner based on what he believed to be a truer and purer
Greek style than that employed by
David. The younger man adopted
flat and
linear froms approximating those found in Greek vase paintings. In a good deal of Ingres's work, the figure is placed in the foreground, much like a piece of
low relief sculpture. The value Ingres placed on the
flow of the contour is a characteristic of his style throughout his career. Countour, which is
simply shaded line, was
everything for Ingres, and
drawing was the means of creating contour. Ingres has been credited with the famous slogan that became the battle cry of the
French Academy:
"Drawing is the probity of art." In content, Ingres first adopted David's
Neoclassical subjects, but he later also traversed the complete range of
Romantic sources. Influenced by
Raphael his popular subjects are
angelic in appearance and his style commincates
status and
position in society. His use of
frigid colors is similar to
Bronzino
It was this rather strange mixture of artistic allegiances -- the precise adherence to Classical form conveyed in Romantic content -- that provoked one critic to ridicule Ingres's work as the vision of "a Chinaman wandering throughout the ruins of Athens." In both form and content, Ingres initially was seen as a kind of rebel they did not cease their attacks until the mid-1820's, when another enemy of the official style, Eugéne Delacroix, appeared. Then they suddenly percieved that Ingres's art, despite its innovations and deviations, still contained many elements that adhered to the official Neoclassism. Ingres soon became a leader in the academic forces in the battle against the "barabrism" of Géricult, Delacroix, and their "movement." Gradually, Ingres warmed to the role in which he had been cast by the critics, and he came to see himself as the conservator of good and true art, a protector of it's principles against would be "destroyers."
Bibliography
Lometa. "Artists and Art in the Classroom" Tucson, Arizona.
1994. (Lecture presented at St Joseph's Catholic School.)
Justus, Kevin. "Art and Culture II." Tucson , Arizona.
1992. (Lecture presented at Pima Community College.)
De La Croix, Horst, Richard D. Tansey, and Diane Kirkpatrick.
Art Through the Ages. University of Michigan: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
1991.