Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Mme. la Baronne de Larinthie (acquired from the artist)
Baron de Larinthie (by descent)
Collection Bessonneau d'Angers (Bessonneau sale, Galerie Charpentier, June 15, 1954, lot 48, illustrated pl. XXI)

Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, Ingres, 1867, no. 407
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Ingres, 1911, no. 58

Henri Delaborde, Ingres, Paris, 1870, no. 9, discussed p. 180
Charles Blanc, Ingres, Sa Vie et Ses Ouvrages, Paris, 1870, discussed p. 234
Henry Lapauze, Ingres, Sa Vie & Son Oeuvre, Paris, 1911, discussed p. 512
Georges Wildenstein, The Paintings of J.A.D. Ingres, London, 1954, no. 288, pp. 223-224, fig. 176, illustrated
Ettore Camesasca, L'opera completa di Ingres, Milan, 1968, no. 162, p. 116, illustrated
Georges Vigne, Ingres, New York, 1995, pp. 228-229, fig. 253, illustrated

Executed in 1859, The Virgin with the Crown is the second in a series of Virgin paintings Ingres completed between 1858 and 1866.  The works signified his return to religious subjects, prompted by a desire to explore more personal and poignant compositions.  Ingres spent 1858-1859 working in the village of Meung-sur-Loire allowing himself a quiet painting environment and some distance from the pressures and critics of Paris.  In an 1859 journal entry, Ingres commented on The Virgin with the Crown , writing that, in his excessively warm studio, he had begun an irresistible work that was "the most beautiful one of my Virgins" (See Lapauze, p. 512). 

Compared to Ingres other depictions of the Madonna, The Virgin with the Crown is a more iconic, Byzantine influenced tableau, different from further Raphaelesque paintings like The Virgin with the Host (Musée D'Orsay, Paris).  This predilection for Eastern styles, which Ingres cultivated through study of ivories and panels, is seen here in the Virgin's bejeweled crown and symmetrical positioning, as well as by the shapeless black background from which she hauntingly emanates.  The Virgin with the Crown is the only Ingres Madonna whose eyes gaze directly into the viewers', establishing a more immediate and empathetic connection.  The expert fashioning of her hands, with their elongated line and archaic feel, endow the Madonna with a timeless grace that represents a beauty beyond the natural world.  The finesse of each line, the hallmark of any great painting by Ingres, is evident in the contours of the Virgin's face and her intricate draperies, which are captured with the precision of Ingres' best portraits.