Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique (1780-1867)
Persée et Andromède (Perseus and Andromeda)
c.1819
Oil on canvas, 19.7 × 16.2 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
Ingres‘s vulnerable figure of Andromeda is the “classic” idealized figure study. The fact that she is being rescued by Perseus, the hero of Greek mythology, from a horrible death in the fangs of a dragon is less important than her sublime and innocent beauty. The tight control of the paint and smooth surfaces, as well as the subject matter, attest to the position Ingres held as the champion of neoclassicism in France. (DIA)