As a pensioner of the French Academy in Rome, Ingres made portrait drawings of his friends and colleagues, including at least ten portraits of the family of Guillaume Lethière, its director, which date from 1808 to 1818. This double portrait of Lethière's wife and young son is set in the garden of the Villa Medici, the seat of the French Academy (its palace is visible on the left). Drawn in 1808, it is one of the first of Ingres' portrait drawings with a view of Rome as its backdrop.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Madame Guillaume Guillon Lethière, née Marie-Joseph-Honorée Vanzenne, and her son Lucien Lethière
Artist:Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (French, Montauban 1780–1867 Paris)
Date:1808
Medium:Graphite
Dimensions:9 1/2 x 7 3/8 in. (24.1 x 18.7 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number:29.100.191
Signature: Signed and dated in graphite lower right: Ingres rome/1808
Inscription: Inscribed on the former mount: pour ma fille/Servières (dedication of Mme Lethière to her daughter, Eugénie Servières)
Marking: At lower left the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection stamp (Lugt 1943)
Mme Guillaume Guillon Lethière (French)Paris, until 1838; Given by her to her daughter, Mme Eugénie Servières, until her death; Purchased from a French priv. collection by H. O. Havemeyer
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930.
Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Nineteenth century French drawings, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1947," March 8, 1947–April 6, 1947.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Diamond Jubilee Exhibition, Masterpieces of Drawing," November 4, 1950–February 11, 1951.
Rotterdam. Museum Boymans. "Van Clouet tot Matisse, Tentoonstelling van franse tekeningen uit amerikaanse collecties," July 31–September 28, 1958.
Paris. Musée de l'Orangerie. "De Clouet à Matisse, dessins français des collections américaines," October–November 1958.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse," February 3–March 15, 1959.
Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums. "Ingres Centennial Exhibition, 1867-1967: Drawings, Watercolors, and Oil Sketches from American Collections," February 12, 1967–April 9, 1967.
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris. "Ingres," October 27, 1967–January 29, 1968.
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch," May 23–August 22, 1999.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch," October 5, 1999–January 2, 2000.
Musée du Louvre, Paris. "Ingres, 1780-1867," February 20, 2006–May 15, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints: Rembrandt," April 30–July 28, 2019.
Naef 51
"Kunst und Künstler". Berlin, June 1, 1930, p. 386, ill.
The H.O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. Privately published, New York, 1931, pp. 188 (ill.),, ill.
Reginald Howard Wilenski French Painting. 1931, fig. no. pl. 82, p. 198, ill.
"David and Ingres: The Classical Ideal. Springfield Shows Two Great French Neo-Classicists." Art News. vol. 38, 25 Nov 1939, cat. no. 53.
Walter Mehring European Drawings from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Portfolio of Collotype Reproductions [Vol. 1: Italian Drawings; Vol. 2: Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings; Vol. 3: "New Series": Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 3 vols., New York, 1942–44, also N.S., no. 38., cat. no. 37 (vol.2), fig. no. 37, ill.
Master Drawings. Bryan Holme, American Studio Books, 1st ed. (2nd: April 1944; reprint Sept. 1945). New York and London, 1943, fig. no. pl. 93, p. 13, ill.
John Rewald "Ingres and the Camera." Art News. vol. XLII, no. 6, May 1-14, 1943, p. 10.
Bryan Holme Master Drawings. New York and London, 1944, p. 13.
Agnes Mongan "Drawings by Ingres in the Winthrop Collection." Gazette des Beaux-Arts. vol. 26, July-December, 1944, p. 392.
Art Digest. 1946, March 15, 1946.
Nineteenth century French drawings. San Francisco, 1947, cat. no. 181, ill.
Agnes Mongan Ingres, Twenty-Four Drawings. New York, 1947, cat. no. 2, ill.
Millia Davenport The Book of Costume. 1, 1948.
Jean Alazard Ingres et l'Ingrisme. Paris, 1950, fig. no. pl. XVII, ill.
Masterpieces of Drawing: Diamond Jubilee Exhibition Philadelphia Museum of Art, November 4, 1950–February 11, 1951. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1950, no. 82, ill.
Regina Shoolman, Charles E. Slatkin Six Centuries of French Master Drawings in America. Oxford University Press, New York, 1950, fig. no. pl. 62, p. 110, ill.
James Parker Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1780-1867. New York, 1955, pp. 13-14, ill.
Jacqueline Bouchot-Saupique "Dessins français des collections américanes." Art et style. vol. 47, 1958, pp. 7-11.
French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse A Special Loan Exhibition, February 3–March 15, 1959. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1959, cat. no. 127, fig. no. pl. 101, ill.
Hans Naef Rome vue par Ingres. Lausanne, 1960, p. 27, fn. 52.
Hans Naef "Ingres und die Familie Guillon Lethière." in DU, Zürich. Zürich, December 1963.
Agnes Mongan, Hans Naef Ingres Centennial Exhibition, 1867-1967. Exh. cat., Feb. 12-April 9. Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1967, cat. no. 10, ill.
Anonymous Donor "A Gala Opening at the Fogg." Harvard Alumni Bulletin. 1967, pp. 22, 26.
Michael Levey "Ingres at Cambridge and Paris" Master Drawings. vol. 6, 1968, pp. 44-47.
Jean-Marie Paisse "Ingres et le portrait d'enfant." Bulletin du Musée Ingres. no. 24, December 1968, cat. no. 24, pp. 17-23.
Lise Duclaux, M. J. Foucart, Hans Naef, Maurice Sérullaz, Daniel Ternois Ingres. Exh. cat., October 27, 1967-January 29, 1968. Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 1968, cat. no. 36, pp. 62, 63, ill.
Ettore Camesasca, Emilio Radius L'opera completa di Ingres. Milan, 1968.
Linda Boyer Gillies "European Drawings in the Havemeyer Collection" Connoisseur. vol. 172, no. 693, November 1969, fig. no. 4, pp. 149, 155, ill.
René Jullian "Ingres et le paysage." Colloque Ingres [1967]. Montauban, 1969.
"Ingres as a Great Portrait Draughtsman." Colloque Ingres [1967]. Montauban, 1969.
Linda Boyer Gillies, Colta Ives, Jacob Bean Classicism and Romanticism: French Drawings and Prints, 1800-1860. Ex. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1970, cat. no. 40, p. 7.
Phyllis Hattis "Ingres in Rome." Art News. vol. 70, no. 3, May 1971, pp. 26-9, 75-77.
Ettore Camesasca, Daniel Ternois Tout l'oeuvre peint de Ingres. Paris, 1971.
Madeleine Delpierre "Ingres et la mode de son temps (d'après ses portraits dessinés)" Bullletin du Musée Ingres. no. 37, July 1975, pp. 21-26.
Hans Naef Die Bildniszeichnungen von J.-A.-D. Ingres. 4 vols., Bern, 1977-1980, Vol. IV: no. 51; Vol. I: p. 410, fig. 6.
James David Draper, Clare Le Corbeiller The Arts Under Napoleon. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1978, cat. no. 60.
Daniel Ternois Ingres. Milan, 1980, p. 35, ill.
Bohumír Mráz Ingres Zeichnungen. 1983, cat. no. 11, p. 41, ill.
Georges Vigne, John Goodman Ingres. New York, 1995, p. 91, ill.
Gary Tinterow, Philip Conisbee, Christopher Riopelle, Hans Naef, Robert Rosenblum, Andrew Carrington Shelton, Georges Vigne, Rebecca A. Rabinow Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch. Exh. cat., National Gallery, London, January 27-April 25, 1999, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., May 23-August 22, 1999, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 5, 1999-January 2, 2000. New York, 1999, cat. no. 53, p. 185, ill.
Elizabeth E. Guffey "Portraits of Ingres. Images of an Epoch." Master Drawings. vol. 39, no. 1, New York, Spring 2001, fig. no. 2, p. 66, ill.
Vincent Pomarède, Stéphane Guégan, Louis-Antoine Prat, Eric Bertin Ingres, 1780-1867. Exh. cat., Musée du Louvre, Paris, February 24-May 15, 2006. Paris, 2006, cat. no. 57, pp. 85, 202-04, ill.
Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Creole Portraits of France's Foreign Relations During the Long Nineteenth-Century. University Park, Pennsylvania, 2022, fig. no. 21, p. 43, ill.
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