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Small in scale within a towering room, a man wearing a white and gold robe sits or stands on a high, covered throne, surrounded by dozens of men in this nearly square painting. All the people appear to have light skin, and many wear religious robes or habits in red, black, or white. The walls of the room are mostly filled with paintings of people in landscapes or, on the entire wall to our right, are shown nude, floating in groups against a blue background. The lowest register on the wall to our left, to either side of the throne, is draped with hanging honey-brown or muted apricot-peach curtains, or is painted to look like hanging curtains. The throne’s canopy, like an awning, hovers two stories over the people gathered beneath it. It is scarlet red and decorated with thick gold bands and coats of arms. A white cloth with gold, floral designs hangs down the back of the canopy to the throne itself. The man on the throne wears a low, white cap over dark hair. He holds his hands together at his chest, just below a wide, jeweled brooch that holds the wide, gold panels of his robe together at his throat. The long robe sweeps down, over the step in front of him. Men in clerical robes, some with books and one holding a triangular hat, gather around the throne on a raised platform. To either side of the platform, rows of men stand, some also looking down at books. Closest to us, about a dozen people, including at least one female nun, are seen from the waist up along the bottom edge of the composition, standing outside the barrier enclosing the ranks. More people stand at an altar, the edge of which is visible along the right side of the canvas. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, “Ingres 1810 ROM.”

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Pope Pius VII in the Sistine Chapel, 1814

West Building, Main Floor - Gallery 56

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 74.5 x 92.7 cm (29 5/16 x 36 1/2 in.)

framed: 98 x 117 x 8.3 cm (38 9/16 x 46 1/16 x 3 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1952.2.23

Artists / Makers

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

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

lower right: Ingres 1810 / ROM. [the last digit of the date, which originally read 1814, was erased and falsely restored sometime before 1921 as 1810]

Provenance

Commissioned by Charles-Marie-Jean-Baptiste Marcotte d'Argenteuil [1773-1864], Paris; his daughter, Mme Alexandre Legentil, née Marie Marcotte [1828-1920], Paris, by 1867;[1] her niece, Mme Marcel Pougin de la Maisonneuve, née Elizabeth Marcotte [d. 1939], Paris, by 1921;[2] (Wildenstein & Co., New York), 1940-1949; sold June 1949 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1952 to NGA.

[1] The exhibition catalogue Tableaux, études peintes, dessins et croquis de J.A.D. Ingres, no. 73 (Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1867) gives the owner as M. Legentil. The 1949 Wildenstein précis in NGA curatorial files lists Marcotte's daughter, Mme Legentil, as the owner.

[2] According to the catalogue Exhibition Ingres, no. 19 (Association Franco-Américaine, Chambre Syndicale de la Curiosité et des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1921). Hans Naef, in Die Bildniszeichnungen von J.-A.-D. Ingres, 5 vols., Bern, 1977-1980: II(1978):532-533, 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, Mme Pougin de la Maisonneuve. 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 a trust for her grandson François-Louis (son of her deceased son).

[3] 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/1660).

Associated Names

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

Exhibition History

1814: Salon of 1814, Musée Royal des Arts, Paris, no. 534

1826: Exposition au profit des Grecs, Galerie le Brun, Paris, 1826, no. 99

1846: Exposition au profit de l'Association des Artistes, Peintres, et Sculpteurs, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, Paris, 1846, no. 43

1855: Exposition universelle, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1855, no. 3341

1867: Tableaux, études peintes, dessins et croquis de J.A.D. Ingres, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1867, no. 73

1921: Exhibition Ingres, Association Franco-Américaine, Chambre Syndicale de la Curiosité et des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1921, no. 19, repro.

1951: Wildenstein Jubilee Loan Exhibition 1901-1951: Masterpieces from Museums and Private Collections, Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1951, no. 30, repro.

1999: Loan to display with permanent collection, Musée Ingres, Montauban, 1999-2000.

2003: Maestà di Roma. D'Ingres à Degas. Les artistes français à Rome, Académie de France à Rome; Dahesh Museum of Art, New York, 2003, no. 129, repro.

Bibliography

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

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1834: S.C. (Alexandre de Saint-Chéron). "La chapelle sixtine, lithographié, par M. Sudre d'aprés M. Ingres." L'Artiste 7 (1834): 1-3.

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1851: Magimel, Albert. Oeuvres de J.A. Ingres... gravés au trait sur acier par Ale. Reveil 1800-1851. Paris, 1851: pl. 26..

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1855: Lacroix, Paul. "M. Ingres à l'exposition universelle." Revue Universelle des Arts. 2 vols. Paris, 1855: II:212.

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1867: Beule, Charles. Eloge de M. Ingres. Paris, 1867: 6.

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

1883: Chesneau, Ernest. Les chefs d'école: Ingres. Paris, 1883: 303.

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1893: Goncourt, Edmond de, and Jules de Goncourt. Etudes d'Art: Le Salon de 1852: La peinture à l'exposition de 1855. Paris, 1893: 192.

1896: Momméja, Jules. "Le Cahier IX de Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres." Réunion des Sociétés des Beaux-Arts des Départements. Paris, 1896: 350-351.

1901: Lapauze, Henry. Les Dessins de J.A.D. Ingres. 2 vols. Paris, 1901: 235, 248, 258.

1904: Momméja, Jules. Les grandes artistes, leur vie, leur oeuvre: Ingres. Paris, 1904: 40, 69-70.

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1908: Guiffrey, Jean. "Le pape officiant à Saint-Pierre de Rome, aquarelle d'Ingres." Bulletin des Musées de France. Paris, 1908: 52.

1909: Boyer d'Agen, A.-J. Ingres d'après une correspondance inédite. Paris, 1909: 106-107.

1910: Lapauze, Henry. Le Roman d'amour de M. Ingres. Paris, 1910: 142-143.

1911: Lapauze, Henry. Ingres, sa vie et son oeuvre (1780-1867) d'après documents inédites. Paris, 1911: 25-26, 127-128.

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1921: Brière, G. "Notes sur l'exposition Ingres en 1921" Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français (1921): 214.

1922: Jamot, Paul. "Sur la date d'un tableau d'Ingres." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français (1922): 294.

1924: Fröhlich-Bum, Lili. Ingres, sein Leben und sein Stil. Vienna and Leipzig, 1924: 8-9, pl. 23.

1926: Silvestre, Théophile. Histoire des artistes vivants. Etudes d'après nature. Reprint in Les artistes français. Paris, 1926: 10, 17, 32.

1928: Hourticq, L. Ingres, l'oeuvre du maître. Paris, 1928: 125, repro. 41.

1930: Fouquet, Jacques. La Vie d'Ingres. Paris, 1930: 82.

1930: Friedländer, Walter. Hauptströmungen der französischen Malerie von David bis Cézanne. Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1930: 93 (English ed., David to Delacroix, 1952: 83, fig. 46).

1950: Alazard, Jean. Ingres et l'Ingrisme. Paris, 1950: 56-57.

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: 234, no. 105, repro.

1952: Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Interpreting Masterpieces: Twenty-four Paintings from the Kress Collection." Art News Annual 16 (1952): 172-173, repro. 126.

1952: Soby, James Thrall. "Two Ingres Paintings at the National Gallery." Magazine of Art 44, no. 5 (May 1952): 162, repro.

1955: Ternois, Daniel. "Ingres aquarelliste." Revue des Arts 5 (1955): 104.

1956: Schlenoff, Norman. Ingres, ses sources littéraires. Paris, 1956: 277.

1956: Wildenstein, Georges. The Paintings of J.A.D. Ingres. 2nd ed. London, 1956: 178, no. 91, pl. 2, 39.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 378, repro.

1962: Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 120, 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: 2:404, color repro.

1967: Pican, Gaetan. Ingres. Geneva, 1967: 25, 35, 102.

1967: Rosenblum, Robert. Ingres. New York, 1967: 100-103, color pl. 23.

1968: Baudelaire, Charles. "Ingres." Exposition universelle de 1855. Republished in Baudelaire oeuvres complètes. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, 1968: 966.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 61, 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: 366-373, fig. 334, 335.

1977: Pope-Hennessy, John. "Completing the Account." Review of Colin Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, London 1977. Times Literary Supplement no. 3927 (17 June 1977).

1977: Whiteley, Jon. Ingres. London, 1977: 52, fig. 35.

1980: Ternois, Daniel. Ingres. Milan, 1980: 42-43, repro. 65.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 423, no. 601, color repro.

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

1986: Arikha, Avigdor. J.A.D. Ingres, Fifty Life Drawings. Exh. cat., The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Frick Collection, New York. New York, 1986: 29-34, nos. 4-7.

1995: Ambille, Paul et. al. Le Baron Taylor, l'Association des Artistes et l'exposition du Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle en 1846. Paris, 1995: 25, 35, 193, 226, 242, 260, 268, 280.

1995: Vigne, Georges. Dessins d'Ingres. Catalogue raisonné des dessins du Musée de Montauban. Paris, 1995: 179, repro.

1995: Vigne, Georges. Ingres. Paris, 1995: 137, 326, 332 no. 66, fig. 113.

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): 53-59, 61-62, 64.

1999: Vigne, Georges. La Solitude de l'homme en blanc. Montauban, 1999: color repro. 8-9 and 16.

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: 285-297, 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: 363-364, fig. 164a (not in the exhibition).

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