Lot 159
  • 159

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Estimate
25,000 - 35,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
  • A sheet of studies for a seated Julius Caesar: a separate study for his right arm and part of the torso, and his right and left hand
  • Pencil on tracing paper;
    signed lower left: Ingres and bears old inscription on a strip cut from the original mount, glued to the backing: à mon ami Henri Gerbod. souvenir affectueux Haro/première pensée de Mr Ingres pour le portrait de César/pour le livre, (Histoire de César par Napoléon III.)
  • 9 1/4 x 7 3/8 inches

Provenance

Etienne-François Haro, Paris,
present by him to Henri Gerbod;
Sale, Paris, Palais Galliera, 30 November 1971, lot 1;
Comtesse de Forceville, until 1972,
when acquired by the present owner

Literature

N. Fiertag, 'La découverte du 'Jules César' d'Ingres', Bulletin du Musée Ingres, no. 49/50, December 1982, pp. 11, 13, note 19, reproduced p. 11, fig. 8

Condition

Laid down on Japan paper. Overall in fairly good condition. A few small holes, one located at the lower left corner. The upper right corner has been made up. There is also a repaired tear at the upper margin in the center. The tracing paper has yellowed. Black chalk/graphite still strong and overall impression is good. Sold in carved and gilded frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

In this handsome, robustly drawn sheet, Ingres studies the seated figure of Julius Caesar, and also, in separate studies, the position of his right arm and both his hands.  The drawing is a preliminary study for a finished composition that was engraved by Louis-Adolphe Salmon.  The print was originally intended to be the frontispiece to the Histoire de Jules César, written by Napoleon III and published in Paris between 1864 and 1865, but ended up being used elsewhere in the book.1 

This same composition is also known from a more or less contemporaneous painting by Ingres, signed and dated 1864, which originally belonged to Napoleon III, and was rediscovered some years ago in a private collection in Geneva (fig. 1; see Literature).  The painting was described in the first monograph on the artist by Henry Delaborde as a grisaille, but is clearly executed in full color.2  Although Neal Fiertag thought that this painting predated the project for the intended frontispiece3, Georges Vigne believes that it is actually a subsequent version of the subject, a theory that would also fit with the date that is inscribed on the painting.4  Ingres received the commission for the frontispiece during the winter of 1861-62, and by July his proposal was already presented to the Emperor, although the composition subsequently underwent radical modification. 

The elaborate evolution of Ingres’s design, through three main phases, is documented by a group of about twenty drawings preserved in the Musée Ingres at Montauban,5 as well by a drawing in a private collection, Geneva, and one which appeared on the art market in 1983.6  The artist's first idea was to depict Caesar standing, holding a staff and an orb,7 an image that he soon modified into a three-quarters length portrait in a Renaissance style.8 Then Ingres moving on to a more sculptural depiction of the Emperor, still three-quarters length but placed against a roundel and surrounded by a classical architectural setting.9  Next, the design became even more stylised, sculptural and classicising, with Caesar shown in the form of a classical bust, in front of a circular niche surmounted by a star and supported by a plinth that is dominated by a large eagle holding a tablet.10  Then, finally, Ingres returned to a much more informal, naturalistic half-length portrait format. 

Our sheet must fall close to the end of the whole complex evolution of the composition.  At this point Ingres has already made the transition to the final half-length seated image, and is concentrating on details such as the exact position of the right hand holding a scroll, which he draws here three times.  There are, though, still some differences from the final painting, most notably the form of the chair, and the placement of the sword, which is on the opposite side of the image from where it would ultimately end up.

The transformation of the image in its final version is very significant iconographically.  In the hard-won final version Ingres seems, as Fiertag has noted, to have abandoned entirely the concept of an official representation of Julius Caesar as a victorious general, choosing instead to portray him in a more benign role as a legislator, wearing a crown of laurel and dressed as a senator.  The implied - and surely desired - connection between Caesar and Napoleon I is here abundantly clear, and was also emphasized in the introduction to the Histoire.. written by Napoleon's nephew, Napoleon III.11

1 Vol. I, between pp. 214 and 215
2 G. Vigne, Dessins d'Ingres, Catalogue raisonné des dessins du musée de Montauban, Paris 1995, p. 432
3 N. Fiertag, loc. cit., pp. 7-8 
4 G. Vigne, loc. cit., p. 432
5 Ibid., pp. 432-435, nos. 2444-2463
6 N. Fiertag, loc. cit., respectively p. 7, fig. 5, p. 9, fig. 6
7 Montauban inv.  867. 2610; G. Vigne, loc. cit., no. 2448
8 Montauban inv.  867. 2619; G. Vigne, loc. cit., no. 2449
9 Montauban inv. nos.  867. 2611-13-20-21; G. Vigne, loc. cit., nos. 2444-2447
10 Montauban inv. 867. 2617; G. Vigne, op. cit., no. 2451

11 Fiertag, loc. cit., pp. 11-12