Ingres, 'Study for the Archangel Raphael of Saint-Ferdinand Chapel', Paris

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) Study for the Archangel Raphael of the Saint-Ferdinand Chapel in Paris Pencil. Old label on the back “Reproduced pl.26 in Collection of 120 drawings, sketches and paintings of Mr. Ingres, the Louvre Museum, and the School of Fine Arts, classified and put in order by his friend Ed. Gatteaux, 1st series, Pars, Guerinet, nd “. Annotated on the back: “Hotel Drouot, room No. 7, sale of March 7, 1955, Rheims, Caillac expert”. 20.5 x 13 cm Provenance: Anonymous auction, Hotel Drouot, Paris, December 3, 1958, study Bellier, Jacques Dubourg expert, n ° 88. Our drawing is preparatory for the stained glass window of the archangel saint Raphael preserved in the chapel Saint-Ferdinand in Paris. Several studies are known, including the study on card preserved in the Louvre Museum, as well as other preparatory drawings for the stained glass window including those of the museum of Chantilly and the museum of Montauban (see: G. Vigne, Drawings of Ingres, Catalogue raisonné of drawings of the Montauban museum, Gallimard, RMN, Paris, 1995, p.301, Fig. 1694 and 1695 reproduced). Condition report: The study has been made on to paper with an additional section to the lower left, 4.5 x 7.5 cm (visible in the illustration). There is a little oxidisation which should be easily rectified as it is not a deep colour. The paper is in good order otherwise, a few tiny fox marks. Overall in good order. I would suggest some restoration. In a gilded slip and white mount, behind glass in a simple giltwood frame. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French Neo-classical painter inspired by traditional artistic styles and a guardian against the ascendant Romantic style. He considered himself a painter of history in the tradition of Poussin and David but it is his portraits that are recognised as his greatest legacy. His expressive distortions of form and space made him an important precursor of modern art influencing Picasso, Matisse and other modernists. His neo-classicist style famously competed with the Romanticism of Delacroix and Gericault, first emerging at the Paris salon in 1824. Paris intellectuals were passionately divided by the conflict although perversely modern art historians tend to regard Ingres as embodying the Romantic spirit of the time. Ingres’ work are shown in the world’s very best art galleries including the Louvre, the Metropolitan in New York and the British National Gallery to name a few. He is increasingly sort after especially in the United States and this delightful example is not only a thing of beauty but has direct relevance to a Paris landmark. Ingres is known as one of the greatest painters of the figure of all time and as such this is even more precious as they are so treasured.