Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

The artist's studio stamp (L.1477);
René Engel, Geneva;
with Galerie Jan Krugier, Geneva,
sale, London, Sotheby's, 9 July 2014, lot 153 (£11,250)

New York, Jan Krugier Gallery, The Presence of Ingres, Important Works by Ingres, Degas, Picasso, Matisse and Balthus, 1988, no. 41, fig. 41, reproduced

Hinge mounted. There is some surface dirt to the edges of the sheet and a small tear to the upper left edge. Otherwise in good condition.
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This sensitive study for a portrait of a seated young lady is closely related to two separate preparatory studies for portraits of Marie d'Agoult and Claire de Charnacé and Mme James de Rothschild, both of which are in the collection of the Musée de Montauban.¹  Seated with her hands delicately clasped together, with an additional study of her left hand to the right of the composition, Ingres seems to be focusing in particular on this detail, suggesting that the portrait may have been commissioned as a result of a recent engagement.

1. Inv. nos. 867.189 and 867.371; G. Vigne, Dessins d'Ingres, Catalogue raisonné des dessins du musée de Montauban, Paris, 1995, pp. 462, 501, nos. 2594, 2770