Self-portrait at age 24, 1804 Continuing with the greats of Neoclassicism, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a giant both of France and Europe in his day. Born on August 29, 1780 his father was also a talented artist who encouraged Jean to pursue his vocation, and ultimately he developed a profound respect for Raphael that would influence both his drawing and painting for the rest of his career. A staunch Neoclassicist, he was very apprehensive of the oncoming wind that would become Romanticism , a reaction to the strictness of order and form that Ingres loved so dearly. Ironically, it is Ingres himself who would subtly distort his own anatomy in such a way that would have a deep influence on Modernism less than fifty years after his death. Above we see one of the most youthful and inspiring self-portraits of any painter, which shows both Ingres as a handsome young man and a painter already at a level of a master. One can sense a certain vanity that accompanies artists of such c...
Thoughts and inspirations on art from the Old Masters to my own art