'ŒDIPUS AND THE SPHINX'
[PLATE I]
During the second year of his sojourn in Rome, Ingres produced his famous picture of 'Œdipus and the Sphinx,' in which his individual manner of conception and execution was first affirmed. The mythical hero is here represented, not as David would have represented him, cold and lifeless as a statue, but as a man endowed with the beauty of a Greek athlete rather than a god, and although his body is drawn and modeled with such academic exactitude that its very perfection is in itself somewhat wearisome, yet when compared with the creations of the painter of the Horatii and the Sabines, it can readily be seen why Ingres, pure classicist though he be, should have been regarded in his own day as a revolutionary.
The old Greek legend is here portrayed of Œdipus explaining the riddle of the Sphinx, whereby he delivered Thebes from the cruelties of that monster who had mercilessly destroyed every man who had failed to solve her riddle. Œdipus has entered the cave in which the Sphinx is seated. With one foot placed upon a rock and his elbow resting on his knee, he gazes intently in her face as he explains that a being with four feet, two feet, and three feet is man, who, in infancy, crawls upon all fours, in manhood stands erect upon two feet, and in old age supports his tottering legs with a staff.
A red mantle is thrown over the young Greek's shoulder, against which rest two spears, weapons with which to defend himself if need be against the attack of the dreaded Sphinx. The bones and portions of the bodies of the creature's victims lie scattered about, and in the distance a man is seen flying in terror.
The canvas is now in the Louvre. It measures about six feet high by four feet ten inches wide.
'PORTRAIT OF MADAME DE SENONNES'
[PLATE II]
"In the portrait of Madame de Senonnes, now in the Museum of Nantes," writes M. Louis Gonse, "Ingres stands unrivaled. Look carefully at the illusive serenity of this strange face where no brush-stroke is visible, at the vague, fleeting smile of the parted lips, the smooth, lustrous hair, the throat modeled like an alabaster column, the sinuous lines of the body, the beautiful, large, plump hands loaded with rings; observe the perfect nonchalance of the pose, and then see the reflection of the back of the head in the mirror—a favorite device of the Primitives; note the wonderful values of the garnet red of the dress against the silky yellow cushions with their reddish brown tones, the marvelous way in which the cashmere shawl and lace ruff are painted, the strong and harmonious color-scheme based on the play of complementary tones, all the sharp precision of the drawing, carried as it is to the utmost limits, and then say whether in all modern painting there is another work which combines such a variety of perfections. This portrait of Madame de Senonnes is to Ingres' portraits of women what the one of Monsieur Bertin is to his portraits of men.
"A visiting-card stuck into the frame of the mirror, with the inscription 'Ing. Roma,' tells us that the picture was painted in the eternal city—apparently between 1806 and 1810. According to report, Ingres had a tender feeling for this fair Roman model, who, child of the people as she was, had lately become the wife of the Vicomte de Senonnes. And in truth, he has put into this portrait all the ardor, all the conviction, of his genius.
"Madame de Senonnes died young; and the vicomte, returning from Italy to his home in Angers, married again, on which occasion he presented this portrait to his brother, who promptly relegated it to the attic. At the brother's death his heirs sold it for one hundred and twenty francs ($24.00) to a dealer who afterwards offered it to the Museum of Nantes, which unhesitatingly gave him the sum of four thousand francs ($800.00) for it. To-day it would bring, at the lowest estimate, one hundred thousand francs, and the time will undoubtedly come when it will be valued at a million."