“Is there anyone among the great men who have not imitated? Nothing is made with nothing.”
-Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Grande Odalisque
Grande Odalisque, also known as Une Odalisque or La Grande Odalisque, is an oil painting of 1814 by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres depicting an odalisque, or concubine. Ingres' contemporaries considered the work to signify Ingres' break from Neoclassicism, indicating a shift toward exotic Romanticism.
Grande Odalisque attracted wide criticism when it was first shown. It is renowned for the elongated proportions and lack of anatomical realism. The work is owned by the Louvre Museum, Paris which purchased the work in 1899.
Ingres’ portraits of the elite contain much information about nineteenth-century society
The nineteenth-century brought with it technological and manufacturing advancements that resulted in the rise of materialism and increased demand for luxury goods. The new middle and upper classes were determined to demonstrate their status with all manner of exotic and expensive accouterments, and a professional portrait was considered a good symbol of wealth and worldliness. The background furnishings and the sitters’ dress in Ingres’ portraits offer a glimpse into the new world of materialism.
The Collection
