Odalisque in Grisaille | Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Workshop | All | European Paintings | Collection Database | Works of Art

Gallery LabelIngres included this picture—an unfinished repetition of the celebrated "Grande Odalisque" of 1814 (Musée du Louvre, Paris)—in a list of works that he painted between his return to Paris from Italy in 1824 and his departure for the French Academy in Rome in 1834. After 1824, Ingres invited his students to assist him with all large paintings, and that is probably true of this canvas as well.

When the "Grande Odalisque" was exhibited at the 1819 Paris Salon, critics considered the anatomical distortions both extravagant and odd and the Turkish accessories out of fashion. The painting did not receive the admiration it deserved until it was reexhibited in 1846 and 1855. By then, writers such as Baudelaire recognized that the bizarre was an essential component of Ingres's aesthetic: "The beautiful is always bizarre."

Provenancethe artist, Paris (until his d. 1867; his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 27, 1867, no. 7, as "Odalisque," to Ingres); the artist's widow, Mme Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, née Ramel, Paris (1867–at least 1870); her brother, Albert Ramel, Paris; Mme Albert Ramel, Paris (by 1921); her daughter, Mme Emmanuel Riant, née Ramel, Paris (until 1937); [Jacques Seligmann, Paris and New York, 1937–38; sold to MMA]

Exhibition History

Paris. Hôtel de la chambre syndicale de la curiosité et des beaux-arts. "Exposition Ingres," May 8–June 5, 1921, no. 24.

New York. World's Fair. "Masterpieces of Art: European & American Paintings, 1500–1900," May–October 1940, no. 236.

Art Gallery of Toronto. "The Classical Contribution to Western Civilization," December 15, 1948–January 31, 1949, not in catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Classical Contribution to Western Civilization," April 1949, not in catalogue.

Birmingham, Ala. Birmingham Museum of Art. "Festival of the Seven Arts," January 25–February 22, 1953, no catalogue.

New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc.. "Nude in Painting," November 1–December 1, 1956, no. 20.

University of California at Los Angeles Art Galleries. "French Masters: Rococo to Romanticism," March 5–April 18, 1961, no cat. number.

Rice Museum. "Gray is the Color," October 19, 1973–January 19, 1974, no. 62.

Athens. National Pinakothiki, Alexander Soutzos Museum. "Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Memories and Revivals of the Classical Spirit," August 15–November 15, 1979, no. 85.

Neuberger Museum, SUNY College at Purchase. "Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting 1800–1880," November 14–December 23, 1982, no. 54.

Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. "Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting 1800–1880," August 27–October 17, 1982, no. 54.

Louisville. J. B. Speed Art Museum. "Ingres, In Pursuit of Perfection: The Art of J.- A.- D. Ingres," December 6, 1983–January 29, 1984, no. 51.

Fort Worth. Kimbell Art Museum. "Ingres, In Pursuit of Perfection: The Art of J. -A. -D. Ingres," March 3–May 6, 1984, no. 51.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Ingres at the Metropolitan," December 13, 1988–March 19, 1989, no catalogue.

Yokohama Museum of Art. "Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: French Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century," March 25–June 4, 1989, no. 77.

Athens. National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. "From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 13, 1992–April 11, 1993, no. 37.

Musée de Cambrai. "Fantasme d'Ingres: Variations autour de la Grande Odalisque," June 26–October 30, 2004, no. 2.

Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19.Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 4.

Paris. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. "Picasso et les Maîtres," October 8, 2008–February 2, 2009, unnumbered cat.

References

M. Gresle. Inventory after the Death of J. A. D. Ingres, April 26, 1867. April 26, 1867.

Henri Delaborde. Ingres: Sa vie, ses travaux, sa doctrine. Paris, 1870, p. 236, under no. 75.

Henry Lapauze. Les Dessins de J.-A.-D. Ingres du Musée de Montauban. Paris, 1901, pp. 235, 248–49.

Martin Birnbaum. Letter to Mr. Winthrop. June 12, 1928.

Emmanuel Riant. Letter. November 5, 1937.

Louise Burroughs. "Odalisque en Grisaille by Ingres." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 33 (October 1938), pp. 222–25, ill.

James W. Lane. "Notes from New York." Apollo 28 (December 1938), pp. 301–302.

Robert M. Levy. Letter to Mrs. Burroughs. October 11, 1938.

Walter Pach. Ingres. New York, 1939, pp. 49, ill. opp. p. 67.

Dietrich von Bothmer. "The Classical Contribution to Western Civilization." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 7 (April 1949), p. 215, ill.

Georges Wildenstein. The Paintings of J. A. D. Ingres. 1st ed. 1954, pp. 170–71, 178–79, 181, 210, 213, 230–31, no. 226, fig. 56.

Georges Wildenstein. The Paintings of J. A. D. Ingres. 2nd revised ed. London, 1956, pp. 170–71, 178–79, 181, 210, 213, 230–31, no. 226, fig. 56.

Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX Century." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2, New York, 1966, pp. 7–9, ill.

Daniel Ternois in Ingres. Exh. cat., Petit Palais. Paris, 1967, p. 103–104, ill.

Anne Poulet in "Turquerie." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 26 (January 1968), p. 236, no. 65, ill.

Emilio Radius Ettore Camesasca in L'opera completa di Ingres. Milan, 1968, p. 97, no. 82d, ill.

John L. Connolly Jr. "Ingres and the Erotic Intellect." Art News Annual, Woman as Sex Object, Studies in Erotic Art, 1730–1970, 38 (1972), pp. 21, 24 ill. [reprinted as Ref. Connolly 1974].

Andreas Freund. "Met's 'Odalisque' Termed Genuine." New York Times (February 3, 1973), p. ?.

John L. Hess. "Metropolitan Finds 'Odalisque' Not by Ingres; will Rehang Painting with a New Attribution." New York Times (January 17, 1973), p. ?.

John L. Hess. "'Odalisque' Back, Under a Cloud." New York Times (January 31, 1973), p. ?.

Gray is the Color. Exh. cat., Rice Museum. Houston, 1973–74, pp. 20, 96–97, 165 n. 39–40, no. 62, ill.

"'Odalisque' is Back on View at Met." New York Times (May 10, 1973), p. ?.

John L. Connolly Jr. "Ingres Studies: Antiochus and Stratonice; The Bather and Odalisque Themes." PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1974, p. 44, pl. XII.

René Jullian. Letter to Monsieur [Everett Fahy]. February 25, 1974.

Jacques Foucart. Letter to Mary Ann W. Harris. July 15, 1976.

Robert Rosenblum. Letter to Mimi Harris. September 30, 1976.

James David Draper and Joan R. Mertens. Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Memories and Revivals of the Classical Spirit. Exh. cat., National Pinakothiki, Alexander Soutzos Museum. Athens, 1979, p. 226–27, no. 85, ill.

Donald A. Rosenthal. Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting 1800–1880. Exh. cat., Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. Rochester, N.Y., 1982, pp. 52–53, 157 n. 8, no. 54, ill.

Patricia Condon, Marjorie B. Cohn, and Agnes Mongan. Ingres, In Pursuit of Perfection: The Art of J.-A.-D. Ingres. Exh. cat., J. B. Speed Art Museum. Louisville, 1983, pp. 126–28, 202, no. 51, fig. 2, colorpl. 51.

Katharine Baetjer et al. in Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: French Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. Exh. cat., Yokohama Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1989, pp. 130–31, ill. in color.

Deborah Krohn et al. in From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. Athens, 1992, pp. 16, 309, no. 37, ill. in color (whole and detail) [catalog section unpaginated].

Véronique Burnod. Fantasme d'Ingres: Variations autour de la Grande Odalisque. Exh. cat., Musée de Cambrai. Ghent, 2004, unpaginated, no. 2, ill. and on cover (both color).

Vincent Pomarède in Ingres: 1780–1867. Exh. cat., Musée du Louvre. Paris, 2006, pp. 180, 385, fig. 137 (color).

Gary Tinterow in The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 22, 222, no. 4, ill. (color and bw).

Gary Tinterow in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 12, 264, no. 10, ill. (color and bw).

Collection Database

European Paintings: All