Madame Moitessier can be found on the west cliff coastal path
Madame Moitessier, 1856
Artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Oil on canvas 120 × 92.1 cm
Wearing her finest clothes and jewellery, Madame Moitessier gazes majestically at us. She is the embodiment of luxury and style during the Second Empire, which saw the restoration of the French imperial throne and the extravagant display of wealth. Her distinctive pose is based upon a Roman wall painting from Herculaneum depicting the goddess of Arcadia.
Read more at NationalGallery.org.uk
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Ingres was steeped in the academic tradition, which centred on study from the nude and classical art. He became the defender of a rigid classicism which contrasted with the Romanticism of Delacroix.
Ingres saw himself as a history painter, the highest goal of academic art. Portraiture he thought of less importance, but he is now most famous for works like ‘Madame Moitessier’ as well for his escapist scenes of the Orient.
Ingres came to national prominence as a pupil of Jacques-Louis David and as a student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He won a scholarship to Rome in 1801 which he took up in 1806, partly because of an unfavourable reception at the Paris Salon.
Read more at NationalGallery.org.uk