While Ingres has retained the formal elements that were so much a part of his neoclassical training-extreme linearity and a cool, 'licked’ surface' (where brushwork is nearly invisible)-he had begun to reject neoclassical subject matter and the idea that art should be morally instructive.

Instead, nearly the entire focus of each composition is on the female form. The first two, however, do not depict a story from the classical past. Interestingly, all three of these works- The Valpinçon Bather, the so-called Sleeper of Naples, and Oedipus and the Sphinx-depict elements of the female nude (to be fair, however, the sphinx is not human). Two years later, Ingres sent to the École three compositions-intended to demonstrate his artistic growth while studying at the French Academy in Rome. Ingres had a bright future indeed.ĭue to the financial woes of the French government in the first years of the nineteenth century, Ingres’s Prix de Rome-which he won in 1801-was delayed until 1806. In 1801, his painting of The Ambassadors of Agamemnon in the Tent of Achilles won him the Prix de Rome. The following year-in only his first attempt-Ingres tied for second place. Ingres was formally admitted to the painting department of the École des Beaux-Arts in October 1799. David won the award in 1774-after four unsuccessful attempts. Joseph-Marie Vien, David’s own teacher, had won the award in 1743.

It promised to be a great five years for any aspiring artist. The recipient of the Prix de Rome was provided with a living stipend, studio space at the French Academy in Rome, and the opportunity to immerse themselves in Rome’s classical ruins and the works of Renaissance and Baroque masters. The Prix de Rome-the Rome Prize-was the most prestigious fellowship that the French government awarded to a student at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts), the leading art school in France from its founding in 1663.

Odalisque by Annabel Joseph