Salon du Dessin 2025, Palais de la Bourse, 2025
An exceptional drawing by Ingres, study for La Source
From March 26 to 31, 2025, the gallery will take part in the Salon du Dessin à Paris at the Palais de la Bourse, presenting the finest graphic works from its collections.
On the occasion of its third participation in the Salon du Dessin, the gallery will present an exceptional graphite drawing by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.
Executed on tracing paper, this gentle female face is a prelude to one of the Musée d'Orsay's most famous figures, a sculptural allegory of The Source. Begun around 1820, the canvas was not completed by the artist, assisted by two of his pupils (as was then often the practice), until 1856.
A manifesto of neo-classicism, of which Ingres was a leading exponent, this troubling young woman of pure beauty is anchored to the ground by a firm drawing that nonetheless retains grace and sensuality, thanks to the posture and modeling.
“Calm is the first beauty of the body” said Ingres, and pouring water from her jug, this life-size almost-cariatid faces us like a marble statue, all classical balance.
Particularly studied in our drawing, the gaze and the inclination of the face, with lips half-open, are striking elements of the composition.
In Ingres' Pensées, drawing comes first
In Ingres' practice, the drawing is more than a preparation for the painting, it remains its skeleton, its solid foundation.
In his Pensées, Ingres sums up the importance of the latter:
“Drawing is the probity of art. (...) Drawing does not simply mean reproducing contours; drawing does not only consist in the line, drawing is also expression, the inner form, the plan, the model. (...) Expression in painting requires a very great science of drawing, because expression cannot be good if it has not been formulated with absolute accuracy. To capture it only approximately is to miss it; it is to represent only false people who would be studying to counterfeit feelings they do not experience. This extreme precision can only be achieved by the most skilful draftsmanship. That's why the most expressive painters among the moderns were the greatest draftsmen. (...) The great painters, like Raphael and Michelangelo, insisted on the finishing stroke. They reiterated it with a fine brush, thus reviving the outline; they imbued their drawings with nerve and rage.
Pensées d'Ingres (1870), Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, ed. De la Sirène, 1922.
Our graphite drawing on tracing paper comes from the Sale of ninety paintings, drawings, watercolors and studies from the studio of M. Ingres, dispersed under the gavel of Me Pillet in Paris in May 1867. Bearing the stamp of the collection of Ingres' pupil and expert, Etienne Haro, it was subsequently kept in a private collection until the present day.
Drawings by Vuillard, Jouve, Henri Martin, Maillol, Signac...
Other artists, regular visitors to our galleries, will also be honored on this occasion: Fauves by Paul Jouve, pastels and watercolors by Edouard Vuillard, watercolors by Paul Signac, drawings by Henri Martin, Bonnard, Maillol and Joseph Inguimberty.
What better way for curators, collectors and connoisseurs to discover the works of art on display.
We look forward to seeing you at the Palais de la Bourse from March 26.