From Library Journal
This catalog of the portraits of the 19th-century painter Ingres is a companion volume to the traveling exhibition sponsored by the National Gallery in London, the National Gallery in Washington, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In the first major study on this subject, five scholars chart the chronology of Ingres the portraitist and seek to place this aspect of his oeuvre within the context of his career and, more broadly, within 19th-century European society and the history of portraiture. Chief influences in the portraits of Ingres include the classical tradition of his teacher, David and that of Renaissance artist, Raphael. Beautiful color and black-and-white reproductions illustrate both Ingres's oil paintings and graphite drawings. Recommended for academic art collections and for all specialized art libraries.ASandra Rothenberg, Framingham State Coll. Lib., MA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch, published in conjunction with an exhibition at The National Gallery, London, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is the first comprehensive study of these nineteenth-century masterpieces.. "This volume unites texts by American and European scholars with the most complete visual presentation ever of Ingres's portraits. The biographical essays and the catalogue entries provide fresh insights based on examination and interpretation of original correspondence, contemporary reviews, and newly discovered documents; supplementing these are an introduction that discusses Ingres's sources of inspiration, essays on the critical reception of the portraits and on the artist's use of assistants, and a detailed illustrated chronology.

SYNOPSIS

For a man who considered the genre "a considerable waste of time...decidedly antibeautiful and unpicturesque," Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres certainly had a way with a portrait. In fact, he's considered by many to be among the 19th century's greatest portrait artists. His work has been admired by fellow artists from Picasso to de Kooning to Cindy Sherman. So it's only fitting that a traveling exhibition, which will spend the summer at Washington D.C.'s National Gallery of Art and the fall at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, has been organized, collecting some 40 paintings and 60 drawings by the artist. That exhibition's accompanying catalogue, Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch , is now available and offers biographical, critical, and scholarly essays and more than 500 illustrations.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

This catalog of the portraits of the 19th-century painter Ingres is a companion volume to the traveling exhibition sponsored by the National Gallery in London, the National Gallery in Washington, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In the first major study on this subject, five scholars chart the chronology of Ingres the portraitist and seek to place this aspect of his oeuvre within the context of his career and, more broadly, within 19th-century European society and the history of portraiture. Chief influences in the portraits of Ingres include the classical tradition of his teacher, David and that of Renaissance artist, Raphael. Beautiful color and black-and-white reproductions illustrate both Ingres's oil paintings and graphite drawings. Recommended for academic art collections and for all specialized art libraries.--Sandra Rothenberg, Framingham State Coll. Lib., MA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Published in conjunction with the 1999 exhibition organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and The National Gallery in London, this volume unites text by eminent American and European scholars with an extensive visual presentation of Ingres' masterworks. Six biographical essays and the catalogue entries provide insights based on examination of original correspondence, contemporary reviews, and newly discovered documents. They are supplemented by discussions of Ingres's sources of inspiration, the contemporary critical reception of the portraits, the artist's use of collaborators, and a detailed chronology. The 504 illustrations include color reproductions of every major painted portrait and about 100 independent portrait drawings, along with photographs of the artist and his sitters and caricatures from contemporary journals. Tinterow and Conisbee are curators of European paintings at the National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, respectively. Oversize: 9.50x12.25. Distributed by Abrams. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Roger Kimball - The Weekly Standard