ARTIST OF THE WEEK: 61. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, ACJ Art Academy

 

Born: 29 August 1780; Montauban, France

Died: January 14, 1867; Paris, France

Nationality: French

Art Movement: Neoclassicism, Orientalism

Field: painting, drawing

Influenced by: Nicolas Poussin, Jacques-Louis David, Raphael

Influenced on: Théodore Chassériau, Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin, Henri Lehmann, Eugène Emmanuel Amaury-Duval, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French Neoclassical painter. Deeply influenced by past artistic traditions, Ingres aspired to become the guardian of academic orthodoxy against the ascendant Romantic style. Although he regarded himself as a painter of history in the tradition of Nicolas Poussin and Jacques-Louis David, it is his portraits that are recognized as his greatest legacy. Regarded as an important pioneer of modern art for his expressive distortions of form and space, he influenced Picasso, Matisse and other modernists.

Ingres, who studied in the studio of David, debuted at his Salon in 1802 and won the Prix de Rome for his painting "The Ambassadors of Agamemnon in the tent of Achilles.” By the time he left for Rome in 1806, his style, showing his close study of Italian and Flemish Renaissance masters, changed little for the rest of his life. 

The Ambassadors of Agamemnon in the tent of Achilles,
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1801)

He worked in Rome and Florence from 1806 to 1824, regularly sending his paintings to the Paris Salon, but was criticized by critics who evaluated his style as bizarre and archaic. In 1824, when his Raphaelesque painting, "The Vow of Louis XIII", was praised, he was finally recognized at the Salon, and again in 1833 with his “Portrait of Monsieur Bertin" reaped popular success. 

The Vow of Louis XIII, Jean-Auguste-
Dominique Ingres (1824)

Portrait of Monsieur Bertin, Jean-Auguste-
Dominique Ingres (1832)

The following year, however, his ambitious work, “The Martyrdom of Saint Symphorian,” was severely criticized and it caused him to return to Italy, and then he returned to Paris in 1841 to spend the rest of his life. 

The Martyrdom of Saint Symphorian,
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1834)

In his later years, he painted new versions of his early works, a series of designs for stained-glass windows, several important portraits of women, and “The Turkish Bath”, the last of his several female nude paintings showing Orientalism.

The Turkish Bath, Jean-Auguste-Dominique
Ingres (1852–59, modified in 1862)

Famous Works (Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres)

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Interesting Art Stories: 25. Et in Arcadia ego, Nicolas Poussin, ACJ Art Academy

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On every Thursday, I am introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the title “Interesting Art Stories”.

The 25th story for this week is “Et in Arcadia ego” by the French Baroque artist Nicolas Poussin.

Nicolas Poussin

“Et in Arcadia ego”, also known as “The Arcadian Shepherds” is a painting by Nicolas Poussin, the major painter of the Classicism and French Baroque era, completed in 1638. It depicts a pastoral scene of shepherds gathering around a tomb and is currently held by the Louvre.

Louvre Museum

Poussin painted two versions of the subject under the same title. The first version painted in 1627 is now held at Chatsworth House in England. The painter who painted this theme earlier than Poussin was Italian painter Guercino circa 1618–1622.

Et in Arcadia ego, Guercino (c. 1618–1622)

The usual interpretation of the title of the painting is “I” means Death and “Arcadia” means a utopian place. Hence, it would be a memento mori, an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death. 

During Antiquity, many Greeks lived in cities close to the sea. However, only Arcadians who lived in the middle of the Peloponnese lived a shepherd life because they were far from the sea. Thus, Arcadia symbolized pure, rural and idyllic life.

But Poussin's biographer André Félibien interpreted the phrase to mean that "the person buried in this tomb lived in Arcadia". This means that the person also once enjoyed the pleasures of life on earth, and this interpretation was also common in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In Arcadia's idyllic settings, the first appearance of a tomb with a memorial inscription appears in Virgil's Eclogues. 

Virgil

The first version of Poussin's painting is believed to have been commissioned as a rework of Guercino's version. It is much more Baroque style than the later version, characteristic of his early work. In the first version, the shepherds are actively reading the inscriptions on the tomb with curious expressions, and the shepherdess on the left is dressed in a very different style from the shepherdess in the later version. 

Poussin's 1627 version of the Arcadian Shepherds, Chatsworth House

Also, for the later version, it has a much more geometric composition than the first version, the figures are much more contemplative, and the mask-like face of the shepherdess follows the conventions of the Classical "Greek profile".

A sculptured version of this painting is the mid-18th century marble relief, part of the Shepherds Monument in the garden at Shugborough House in Staffordshire, England. 

The Shugborough relief

The Shepherds Monument

The Shugborough inscription is a sequence of letters, O U O S V A V V, written between the letters D and M carved on the Shepherds Monument. It is one of the world's most difficult-to-decipher ciphertexts that no one has ever deciphered satisfactorily.

The eight letters 'OUOSVAVV', framed by the letters 'DM' in Shugborough inscription

The authors of the book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" published in 1982 claimed that Poussin was a member of the Priory of Sion and that "The Arcadian Shepherds" he painted contained hidden meanings of esoteric significance. 

Book cover of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail"

In 2003, Dan Brown copied many elements of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" in his bestselling novel "The Da Vinci Code", but made no mention of the Shugborough inscription. However, this book aroused a new interest in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

First US edition cover of "The Da Vinci Code"

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ARTIST OF THE WEEK: 21. NICOLAS POUSSIN

Name: Nicolas Poussin

Born: June 15, 1594; Les Andelys, France

Died: November 19, 1665; Rome, Italy

Nationality: French

Active Years: 1624 - 1664

Art Movement: Classicism, Baroque

Field: Painting

Influenced by: Raphael, Pietro da Cortona, Titian, Guido Reni

Influenced on: Jacques-Louis David, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Paul Cezanne, Georges Seurat, Jean Hugo, Jean-Francois Millet, Camille Corot, Joseph Anton Koch

Friends and Co-workers: Jacques Stella, Claude Lorrain

Nicolas Poussin was the leading painter of the French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a small group of Italian and French collectors. He returned to Paris for a brief period to serve as First Painter to the King under Louis XIII, but soon returned to Rome and resumed his more traditional themes. In his later years he gave growing prominence to the landscapes. His work is characterized by clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. Until the 20th century, he remained a major inspiration for such artists as Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Paul Cézanne.

FAMOUS WORKS

ALL WORKS LIST (Nicolas Poussin)

RELATED ARTISTS

1. Raphael

2. Titian

3. Guido Reni

4. Jacques-Louis David

5. Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

6. Paul Cezanne

7. Georges Seurat

8. Camille Corot

9. Jacques Stella

10. Claude Lorrain

ALL ARTISTS LIST

Currently, “J art”, an internet mall of “Art Collage JANG” is selling artprints of worldwide famous artists.

In relation with this sale, I will introduce one by one every week, whose artprints are on the sale list, by following categories.

1. Artist’s Bio: Introduce brief bio of selected artist

2. Famous Works: Move to the corresponding artprints in J art by clicking

3. All Works List: Move to all works of selected artist in J art by clicking

4. Related Artists: Move to the works of the artists in J art, who are related to the selected artist.

5. All Artists List: Move to the list of all artists selling artprints in J art

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