Art Institute of Chicago

Comtesse Charles d’Agoult (born Marie de Flavigny) and Her Daughter Claire d’Agoult

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Date

1849

Medium

Graphite, heightened with white opaque watercolor, with touches of yellow watercolor, on off-white wove paper, lined to secondary wove paper

Culture

France

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

One of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s largest and most ambitious portrait drawings, this work depicts the important Parisian society hostess, writer, and critic the Comtesse Marie d’Agoult and her daughter Claire. Ingres typically produced his portrait drawings without preparation and in a single sitting. This work, in contrast, required at least two sittings and three preparatory studies. The drawing is notable for its evocation of the richly furnished interior of d’Agoult’s home. The artist selectively applied yellow watercolor to enhance objects and added white heightening to the sitters’ dresses to suggest the sheen of silk.

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