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Lot Essay
This drawing of a lady reclining on a couch, wearing a turban and draped in a mantle, has been dated by Hans Naef to 1818. This places the sheet in Ingres's Roman period, at approximately the same date as some of Ingres's most impressive portrait drawings, such as the Portrait of General Louis-Etienne Dulong de Rosnay, recently acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 2013.150.9; Naef 231). That date is supported by the style, in which the head is brought to a higher finish than the body, which is instead delineated by freer, more sweeping lines. By this date Ingres had established himself in a studio in Rome and was beginning to work for a wider range of foreign visitors to the city, as business from his early French patrons had declined in the political confusion following Napoleon's military defeats. Chief among these new patrons were the British, who had been unable to visit Italy for twenty years thanks to the Napoleonic Wars and now took advantage of their new freedom. They sought out Ingres for his portrait drawings, which were greatly admired for his sensitive insight into his sitters' characters and the elegant precision of his draughtsmanship. Ingres is said to have regretted that he was regarded as a sketcher of portraits rather than the grand history painter he desired to be, but he nevertheless produced a series of superb pencil portraits which allowed him to further develop his technical skill.
The sitter was identified in the 1900 Paris exhibition as 'Lady Lytton' and in the 1920 Beurdeley sale she was further described as 'ambassadrice d'Angleterre en Italie'. It has been difficult to identify her with any of the known ambassadors' wives at the date which Naef suggested for the drawing, on the basis of its stylistic qualities. It has been suggested that she may be the wife of Henry Bulwer-Lytton (1801-1872), who served as the British Minister-Plenipotentiary to Florence between 1852 and 1854, but this is evidently at odds with Naef's assessment of the drawing's likely date. The lady's elegant turban, Empire-line gown and puffed short sleeves also point to a date of circa 1818. Although her identity is not certain, her relaxed pose and the calm self-possession of her expression demonstrate Ingres's skill at giving his sitters' portrait an engagingly informal feel, while maintaining an air of dignity.
The sitter was identified in the 1900 Paris exhibition as 'Lady Lytton' and in the 1920 Beurdeley sale she was further described as 'ambassadrice d'Angleterre en Italie'. It has been difficult to identify her with any of the known ambassadors' wives at the date which Naef suggested for the drawing, on the basis of its stylistic qualities. It has been suggested that she may be the wife of Henry Bulwer-Lytton (1801-1872), who served as the British Minister-Plenipotentiary to Florence between 1852 and 1854, but this is evidently at odds with Naef's assessment of the drawing's likely date. The lady's elegant turban, Empire-line gown and puffed short sleeves also point to a date of circa 1818. Although her identity is not certain, her relaxed pose and the calm self-possession of her expression demonstrate Ingres's skill at giving his sitters' portrait an engagingly informal feel, while maintaining an air of dignity.