Grande Odalisque by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

“Grande Odalisque” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres depicts an odalisque. An odalisque was a chambermaid in the sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines in the Ottoman sultan’s household.

Grande Odalisque attracted extensive criticism when it was first exhibited. It became renowned for the elongated proportions and departure from the restrictions of anatomical realism.

This work signified Ingres’ break from Neoclassicism and shifted towards exotic Romanticism. Ingres favored long lines to convey curvature and sensuality and the very skillful use of light and shadow to sculpture proportions.

Napoleon’s sister commissioned the painting, and Ingres drew upon famous Renaissance masterpieces and contemporary reclining portraits for inspiration.

Ingres portrays the Odalisque in a pose viewed from the back with a small head, elongated limbs. This technique reveals influences from Mannerists such as Parmigianino, who was famous for anatomical distortion.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Ingres was a French Neoclassical painter who thought of himself as a painter of history and highly regarded for his many portraits.

Critics often found his style bizarre and archaic. However, his expressive distortions of form and space make him an important precursor of modern art, and his work influenced Picasso and Matisse, and other modernists.

The Grand Odalisque

Title: The Grand Odalisque
French: La grande odalisque or Une Odalisque
Artist: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Created: 1814
Media: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Height: 91 cm (35.8 in). Width: 162 cm (63.8 in).
Museum: The Louvre

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Artist: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Born: 1780 – Montauban, Languedoc, France
Died: 1867 (aged 86) – Paris, France
Movement: Neoclassicism
Notable Works:

Grande Odalisque by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

A Tour of the Louvre Paintings

Ingres Grand Odalisque

Quotes by Ingres

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“Is there anyone among the great men who have not imitated? Nothing is made with nothing.”

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“Make copies, young man, many copies. You can only become a good artist by copying the masters.”

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“What do these so-called artists mean when they preach the discovery of the’ new’?
Is there anything new? Everything has been done; everything has been discovered.”

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“You have to observe flowers to find the right tones for the folds of clothes.”

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“It takes 25 years to learn to draw, one hour to learn to paint.”

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