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Shown from about the waist up, a man with pale, peachy skin, wearing a marine-blue greatcoat over several layers of clothing, looks out at us in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s body is angled to our left, and he looks at us from the corners of his dark brown, hooded eyes. He has an oval face with a slightly jutting chin, a long, straight nose, and his full-lipped mouth is lightly pursed. He is lit from our left, casting the right ear and side of his face in shadow. His chestnut-brown, wavy hair is short, and brushed forward over the ear we can see. Several shirts and coats are layered over his shoulders. Closest to his skin, a high-collared white shirt, with points reaching past his jawline, is tied with a wide, black neckcloth. Next is a custard-yellow garment, also with a high-neck, perhaps a vest. Over that he wears a brown coat with wide, pointed lapels. A bright, scarlet-red oval is fastened to one buttonhole on the lapel to our right, and a gold and rose-pink ornament peeks out from the bottom hem at his waist. Finally, the blue greatcoat has an elbow-length cape, and nearly falls off his shoulders. Fabric across the back of the collar is a hood lined with dark silver satin. He props his left elbow, to our right, on a table or ledge, and that wide cuff is rolled back over the white edge of this shirt. He wears a gold band on the pinky finger of that hand. The ledge is draped with a deep, marmalade-orange cloth. Gold tassels dangling from the end of a scrolled, bound document hangs off the edge of the ledge, near the man’s wrist. The background deepens from sage green along the lower left edge of the painting to fawn brown around the man’s head. The artist signed and dated the lower right corner, “Ingres. Pinx. Rom. 1810.”

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Marcotte d'Argenteuil, 1810

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 56

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 93.7 x 69.4 cm (36 7/8 x 27 5/16 in.)

framed: 120 x 96.5 x 10.2 cm (47 1/4 x 38 x 4 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1952.2.24

Artists / Makers

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (artist) French, 1780 - 1867

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower right: Ingres.Pinx.Rom. / 1810

Provenance

Charles-Marie-Jean-Baptiste Marcotte d'Argenteuil [1773-1864], Paris; his son, Joseph Marcotte d'Argenteuil [1831-1893]; his wife, née Paule Aguillon [d. 1922], by 1911;[1] her daughter, Mme. Marcel Pougin de la Maisonneuve, née Elizabeth Marcotte [d. 1939].[2] Private collection, London.[3] (Wildenstein & Co., New York); sold June 1949 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1952 to NGA.

[1] Henry Lapauze, Ingres, sa vie et son oeuvre (1780-1867) d'après documents inédites, Paris, 1911: 95.

[2] Hans Naef, Die Bildniszeichnungen von J.-A.-D. Ingres, 5 vols., Bern, 1977-1980: II:503-533, describes the inheritance of the Marcotte family portrait collection as follows: When Marie Legentil died without children in 1920, her entire collection was bequeathed to her niece, daughter of her brother Joseph, Mme Marcel Pougin de la Maisonneuve, née Elizabeth Marcotte. When Mme Pougin de la Maisonneuve died in 1939, she left her collection divided between her two daughters, Geneviève de Laporte and Marie-Louise Chavane, and in trust for her grandson, François-Louis (son of her deceased son). Naef cannot account for the disposition of specific works.

[3] Wildenstein & Co. letter, dated 12 January 1961, in NGA curatorial files.

[4] The Wildenstein invoice to the Kress Foundation for 16 items, including this painting, is dated 23 June 1949 (copy in NGA curatorial files, see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1405).

Associated Names

Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Marcotte d'Argenteuil, Charles-Marie-Jean-Baptist-François
Marcotte d'Argenteuil, Joseph
Marcotte d'Argenteuil, Paule
Pougin de la Maisonneuve, Elizabeth
Private Collection (NGA Former Owner)
Wildenstein & Co., Inc.

Exhibition History

1814: Salon of 1814, Musée Royal des Arts, Paris, no. 535.

1867: Tableaux, études peintes, dessins, et croquis de J.A.D. Ingres, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1867, no. 440.

1911: Exhibition Ingres, Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 1911, no. 14.

1951: Wildenstein Jubilee Loan Exhibition, 1901-1951: Masterpieces from Museums and Private Collections, Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1951, no. 31, repro.

1983: In Pursuit of Perfection: The Art of J.-A.-D. Ingres, J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1983-1984, no. 63.

1994: A Gift to America: Masterpieces of European Painting from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Seattle Art Museum; Calif. Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1994-1995, no. 56.

1999: Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch, The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1999-2000, no. 26, repro., as Charles-Marie-Jean-Baptiste Marcotte (Marcotte d'Argenteuil).

2006: Ingres 1780-1867, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2006, no. 51, repro.

Bibliography

1814: Boutard, Jean-Baptiste. Journal des débats (11 November 1814).

1815: Miel, Edmé. Journal général de France. 15 February 1815.

1851: Magimel, Albert. Oeuvres de J.A. Ingres... gravés au trait sur acier par Ale. Reveil 1800-1851. Paris, 1851: pl. 15.

1864: Vicaire, M. "Obseques de M. Marcotte, ancien directeur général des Eaux et Forêts." La Revue des Eaux et Forêts. Paris, 1864: 100-105.

1867: Merson, Olivier. Ingres, sa vie et ses oeuvres, avec catalogue des oeuvres du maître. Paris, 1867: 17, 104.

1870: Blanc, Charles. Ingres, sa vie, ses ouvrages. Paris, 1870: 33-34 note 1, 38, 231.

1870: Delaborde, Henri. Ingres, sa vie, ses travaux, sa doctrine, d'après les notes manuscrites et les lettres du maître. Paris, 1870: 254-255, no. 139.

1882: Montrosier, Eugene. Peintres modernes. Paris, 1882: 12.

1901: Lapauze, Henry. Les dessins de J.-A.-D. Ingres au Musée de Montauban. Paris, 1901: 235ff.

1903: Lapauze, Henry. Les portraits dessinés de J.-A.-D. Ingres. Paris, 1903: 63-64.

1904: Momméja, Jules. Les grandes artistes, leur vie, leur oeuvre: Ingres. Paris, 1904: 39, 68-69.

1911: Lapauze, Henry. Ingres, sa vie et son oeuvre (1780-1867) d'après documents inédites. Paris, 1911: 102, 106-112, repro. 95.

1924: Fröhlich-Bum, Lili. Ingres, sein Leben und sein Stil. Vienna and Leipzig, 1924: 9, pl. 14.

1928: Hourticq, L. Ingres, l'oeuvre du maître. Paris, 1928: 4:125, repro. 25.

1930: Fouquet, Jacques. La Vie d'Ingres. Paris, 1930: 69-70.

1939: Pach, Walter. Ingres. New York and Lausanne, 1939: 42-43, repro. 56.

1950: Alazard, Jean. Ingres et l'Ingrisme. Paris, 1950: 45-48.

1951: Frankfurter, Alfred. "New Additions to the Kress Collection." Art News 50 (April 1951): 35.

1951: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 236, no. 106, repro.

1951: "Wildenstein's Jubilee, a Setting of Brilliants." Art Digest 26 (December 1951): 17.

1952: Soby, James Thrall. "Two Ingres Paintings at the National Gallery." Magazine of Art 44 (May 1952): 162, repro.

1956: Wildenstein, Georges. Ingres. 2nd ed. London, 1956: 172, no. 69, pl. 21.

1958: Naef, Hans. "Ingres' Portraits of the Marcotte Family." The Art Bulletin 40 no. 4 (December 1958): 339-342.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 376, repro.

1959: Ternois, Daniel. Les dessins d'Ingres au Musée de Montauban: Les portraits. Paris, 1959: no. 119, repro.

1961: Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 195, color pl. 185.

1962: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 118, color repro.

1963: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 322, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 70.

1966: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:402, color repro.

1967: Rosenblum, Robert. Ingres. New York, 1967: 82, pl. 14.

1967: Ternois, Daniel, et. al. Ingres. Exh. Cat. Petit Palais, Paris, 1967: 82, no. 54, repro.

1968: Camesasca, Ettore. L'Opera completa di Ingres. Milan, 1968: 92, no. 59, repro. (French edition, Paris, 1971: no. 60, repro.).

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 62, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 180, repro.

1977: Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 364-366, fig. 336, color repro., as Monsieur Marcotte D'Argenteuil.

1977: Naef, Hans. Die Bildniszeichnungen von J.A.D. Ingres. 5 vols. Berne, 1977: IV:122-124, nos. 64-65, repro.

1977: Whiteley, Jon. Ingres. London, 1977: 38, fig. 21.

1980: Ternois, Daniel. Ingres. Milan, 1980: 46, repro. 71.

1983: Condon, Patricia, Marjory Cohn, and Agnes Mongan. In Pursuit of Perfection: The Art of J.A.D. Ingres. Exh. cat. J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. Louisville, 1983: no. 63, repro.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 423, no. 603, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 209, repro.

1995: Vigne, Georges. Dessins d'Ingres. Catalogue raisonné des dessins du Musée de Montauban. Paris, 1995: 490.

1995: Vigne, Georges. Ingres. Paris, 1995: 80, fig. 53, 327, 331, no. 47.

1996: Warrick, Paula J. "Portraits of a Caste: Ingres, the Circle of Charles Marcotte d'Argenteuil, and the Bureaucratic Image." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Delaware, Newark, 1996.

1999: Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch. Exh. cat. The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1999-2000: no. 26, repro.

1999: Ternois, Daniel. "Lettres d'Ingres à Marcotte d'Argenteuil." Société de l'histoire de l'art français, Archives de l'art français, new period, 35 (1999): 39, 53-54, 60, 61, 64, repro. cover.

1999: Vigne, Georges. La Solitude de l'homme en blanc. Montauban, 1999: 2-15, color repro. 2.

2000: Eitner, Lorenz. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 279-285, color repro.

2005: Baillio, Joseph, et al. The Arts of France from François Ier to Napoléon Ier. A Centennial Celebration of Wildenstein's Presence in New York. Exh. cat. Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 2005: 63, fig. 80, 74 (not in the exhibition).

2006: Brettell, Richard R., and Stephen F. Eisenman. Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum. New Haven and London, 2006: 226 fig. 59b, 227.

2012: Kennicott, Philip. "French Rooms Reopen, With Different Accents." Washington Post 135, no. 55 (January 29, 2012): E25.