PORTRAIT DE MADAME DEVAUCAY

1806

A chilly reception at the Salon of 1806

At the Salon of 1806 Ingres showed his Self-Portrait, the Rivière family portraits and Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne to a very chilly reception: David was severe, the critics hostile, and Chaussard called his style gothic and accused him of wanting to make art regress by four centuries. Ingres had left for Rome just days before the Salon opened.

1806

Engagement to Julie Forestier

In 1806 Ingres met the 24-year-old painter Marie-Anne-Julie Forestier and quickly became engaged to her. Her father and uncle, well-known lawyers, saw his long stay in Rome as the best way to strengthen the engagement, expecting him to return famous and with a good income.

11 October 1806

Arrival in Rome

Travelling via Milan, Bologna and Florence, Ingres reached Rome on 11 October 1806 and settled at the Villa Medici, the seat of the French Academy. At first he was bored and longed to return to Paris, but the Academy's director Joseph Suvée received him warmly and gave the fellows complete creative freedom.

23 November 1806

“Art will need to be reformed”

Reading the relentlessly hostile Paris press in Rome, Ingres wrote to his prospective father-in-law Jean Forestier that art would need to be reformed and that he meant to be that revolutionary. He vowed never to exhibit at the Salon again.

1806–1810 · Formation

French Academy in Rome

1807

Breaking off the engagement to Julie Forestier

In August 1807, absorbed in his work in Italy, Ingres broke off the engagement, writing in his last letter to Forestier that it was now unthinkable for him to leave Italy.