''The Valpinçon Bather'' (Fr: ''La Grande Baigneuse'') is an 1808 painting by the French Neoclassical artist

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

(1780–1867), held in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

since 1879. Painted while the artist was studying at the

French Academy in Rome The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by Louis XIV under the dire ...

, it was originally titled ''Seated Woman'' but later became known after one of its nineteenth-century owners.

Context

Ingres had earlier painted female nudes, such as his ''Bathing Woman'' of 1807, yet this work is widely regarded as his first great treatment of the subject. As in the previous smaller work, the model is shown from behind; however, ''The Valpinçon Bather'' lacks the earlier painting's overt sexuality, instead depicting a calm and measured sensuality.Rosenblum, 66 Ingres returned to the form of this figure a number of times in his life; culminating in his '' The Turkish Bath'' of 1863, where the central figure in the foreground playing a

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

echoes in rhythm and tone the model of the Valpinçon bather.

Reception

Although the painting was not met with favour by critics when first exhibited, almost fifty years later, when the artist's reputation was well established, the Goncourt brothers wrote that "

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

himself would have envied the amber color of this pale torso", while the Louvre described it as "a masterpiece of harmonious lines and delicate light".

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

(1821–1867) described the model as having a "deep voluptuousness", yet in many ways she is presented as essentially

chaste Chaste refers to practicing chastity. Chaste may also refer to: * Aymar Chaste (1514–1603), Catholic French admiral * Chaste (Marvel Comics), a fictional Marvel Comics martial arts enclave * Chaste (canton) - see List of townships in Quebec, Ca ...

. This contradiction is apparent in many elements of the painting. The turn of her neck and the curves of her back and legs are accentuated by the fall of the metallic green draperies, the swell of the white curtain in front of her and the folds of the bed sheets and linen. However, these elements are countered by the cool tone in which her flesh is rendered as well as by elements such as the elegant black-veined marble to the left of her. Remarking on Ingres' ability to paint the human body in a unique manner, the art critic Robert Rosenblum wrote that "the ultimate effect of 'The Valpinçon Bather''is of a magical suspension of time and movement—even of the laws of gravity ... the figure seems to float weightlessly upon the enamel smoothness of the surface, exerting only the most delicate pressure, and the gravitational expectations of the heaviest earthbound forms are surprisingly controverted."

Influence

Le violon d'Ingres ''Le Violon d'Ingres'' (French for ''Ingres's Violin'') is a black-and-white photograph created by American visual artist Man Ray in 1924. It is one of his best-known photographs and of surrealism, surrealist photography. The picture was first pub ...

'' is a 1924 photograph by

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...

inspired by ''The Valpinçon Bather.'' There are more than twenty references to ''The Valpinçon Bather'' in

Herman Braun-Vega Herman Braun-Vega (7 July 1933 in Lima — 2 April 2019 in Paris) was a Peruvian painter and artist. Although his work has always been figurative, it was at first (before 1970) close to abstraction. It experienced a decisive turning point when t ...

's work. One of the first being in the painting ''Le Bain à Barranco (Ingres)'' from 1984 where she is depicted on a modest Peruvian beach.

Notes

Sources

* Rosenblum, Robert. ''Ingres''. London: Harry N. Abrams, 1990. * Siegfried, Susan & Rifkin, Adrian. ''Fingering Ingres''. Wiley-Blackwell, 2001.

External links