JEAN-AUGUSTE-DOMINIQUE INGRES | RAPHAEL ET LA FORNARINA

Sale, London, Christie's, 21 November 1996, lot 42

This drawing relates to one of Ingres’ most celebrated compositions, Raphael et la Fornarina, which is known in at least four painted versions, executed by the artist between 1813 and 1846.¹ The subject is that of the Renaissance artist with his mistress, a baker's daughter, gazing together at his bare-breasted portrait of her, now in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome.²  It was intended by Ingres to be part of a larger, unrealized series on Raphael’s life.

As with the multiple painted versions, there are, including the present lot, at least four drawn versions of the subject, in the collections of the British Museum, London,³ the Musée du Louvre, Paris⁴ and the Musée Ingres, Montauban.⁵ Hans Naef, who confirmed the attribution of the present work prior to its last appearance on the market in 1996, compares our drawing most closely to the pen and ink version in the British Museum, highlighting their identical compositions, whilst also adding that the signature found in the lower left corner of the present drawing is typical of Ingres.

1. See G. Vigne, Dessins d’Ingres, Catalogue raisonné des dessins du musée de Montauban, Paris 1995, pp. 168-9

2. See H. Toussaint, “Ingres et la Fornarina”, Bulletin du Musée Ingres, Amis du Musée Ingres, 1986, pp. 63-74

3. London, The British Museum, inv. no. 1922,1017.11

4. Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. no. RF 1448

5. Montauban, Musée Ingres, inv. no. MI.867.2076