Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 'Pindar and Ictinus', probably 1830-67
About the work
Overview
This small canvas mounted on panel shows two imaginary portraits of figures from Ancient Greece. The main figure, whose bearded face is shown in profile, is the lyric poet Pindar (518–438 BC). Behind him, and in shadow, is Ictinus, the architect of the Parthenon, who lived in the mid-fifth century BC. To help us identify them, Ingres has given each the tools of his trade: Pindar, wearing a wreath of laurel leaves – a mark of his poetic achievement – holds a lyre and Ictinus holds an architect’s ruler.
Ingres had included a very similar portrait of Pindar in his monumental painting The Apotheosis of Homer, a ceiling decoration he completed in 1827 at the Louvre, Paris. The painting shows a group of over 40 figures in front of an ancient Greek temple, arranged symmetrically around the enthroned poet, Homer.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Pindar and Ictinus
- Artist dates
- 1780 - 1867
- Date made
- probably 1830-67
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas, mounted on wood
- Dimensions
- 34.9 × 27.9 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1918
- Inventory number
- NG3293
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, with additions and some revisions by Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, etc.’, London 1970; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2016Painters' Paintings: From Freud to Van DyckThe National Gallery (London)23 June 2016 - 4 September 2016
Bibliography
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1870H. Delaborde, Ingres: Sa Vie, ses travaux, sa doctrine, Paris 1870
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1911H. Lapauze, Ingres: Sa vie et son oeuvre (1780-1867), Paris 1911
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1918Galerie Georges Petit, Catalogue des tableaux modernes et anciens, aquarelles, pastels, dessins, par Bartholomé … composant la collection de Edgar Degas, Paris, 26 March 1918 - 27 March 1918
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1936C.J. Holmes, Self and Partners (mostly Self), London 1936
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1947A. Mongan, 'Ingres and the Antique', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, X, 1947
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1954G. Wildenstein, The Paintings of J. A. D. Ingres, London 1954
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1957Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
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1970Davies, Martin, and Cecil Gould, National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists etc., London 1970
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1983P. Condon et al., In Pursuit of Perfection: The Art of J.-A.-D.Ingres (exh. cat. Speed Art Museum, 6 December 1983 - 29 January 1984; Kimbell Art Museum, 3 March - 6 May 1984), Indiana 1983
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1989D. Sutton, 'The Degas Sales and England', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXI/1033, 1989, pp. 266-72
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1991G. Vigne, L'Etude pour la tête de Boileau de J.A.D. Ingres et les esquisses peintes pour l'Apothéose d'Homère (exh. cat. Musée Ingres, 22 February - 12 May 1991), Montauban 1991
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1995G. Vigne, Ingres, Paris 1995
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1996A. Dumas, Degas as a Collector, London 1996
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1997A. Dumas et al., The Private Collection of Edgar Degas (exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1 October 1997 - 11 January 1998), New York 1997
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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