How Romantic of You

Despite his every attempt, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was unable to resist the attractive themes of Romanticism.  Ingres was one of Jaques-Louis David's understudies, but he didn't last for long.  David was educated in the Neoclassical style, but he pushed his students to expand the horizons and find their own artistic identity.  Ingres, fed up with this barbaric deviation from the strict Neoclassicism, left that school and went out on his own.  The main difference between Neoclassicism and Romanticism is that the first involves primarily the observed state of life, whereas the second usually involves an elaborate fictional story behind work.

Grande Odalisque

Many of his compositions, including the Apotheosis of Homer, were strictly Neoclassical, but his Grande Odalisque was demolished by critics for it's Romantic themes.  The reclining nude female is a common Greco-Roman, but by portraying her as a odalisque he used an exotic Romantic image.  An odalisque is a female slave most commonly found in the seraglio (female apartments) of the Turkish sultan.  The nude woman style can be seen in Titian's Venus of Urbino (1538).  The face is a near imitation of Raphel's soft featured and calm style, which can be seen in his Madonna in the Meadow (1505).  The extreme relaxation shown is similar to the Italian Mannerism artist Jacopo da Pontormo's style in his Madonna with the Long Neck and Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time.  Ingres also uses the same elongated body shape and the cool color scheme that creates a calm and relaxed feeling.  No matter how traditional the painting of the subject is, the subject itself is purely Romantic, which puts this work in the transitional period between Neoclassicism and the revolutionary Romanticism.

Venus of Urbino

Madonna in the Meadow