Madame Désiré Raoul-Rochette

1830

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

(French, 1780–1867)

Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

graphite on cream wove paper

Support

Cream wove paper

Measurements

Sheet: 32.2 x 24 cm (12 11/16 x 9 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1927.437

Catalogue raisonné

Naef 334

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Ingres paid close attention to his sitter's costume: a fashionable open coat and dress with leg-of-mutton sleeves.

Description

While living in Rome, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres began making commissioned graphite portraits as a way of providing additional income. He aspired to a career as a history painter, however, and made such works only as gifts for friends after achieving professional success. This sheet was a gift for its sitter's husband, a famous archaeologist to whom Ingres dedicated it at lower right. The subject of the drawing, Antoinette-Claude Houdon, was the youngest daughter of Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828), an important 18th-century French sculptor. Using the style he developed for such works, the artist drew in stark, confident lines, with no apparent erasing or correction.