Madame Edmond Cavé (Marie-Élisabeth Blavot, born 1810)

Ingres's portrait of Madame Edmond Cavé from around 1831-34 depicts the wife of the arts administrator whose portrait he would paint a decade later, documenting his sustained relationship with this family. Madame Cavé was herself a painter who later wrote a drawing manual and received praise for her own artistic practice — an unusual distinction for a woman of her period. Ingres's female portraits of his mature period combine his characteristic linear precision with a warm sensuousness derived from his study of Raphael's women, creating an ideal of feminine beauty that was both classical in derivation and intensely individual in observation.

Ingres renders the sitter with extraordinary delicacy, the smooth, luminous flesh tones and precise linear drawing creating an image of idealized yet individual beauty. The costume is depicted with meticulous attention to fabric and ornament, while the overall composition achieves the harmonious balance that characterizes Ingres's finest portraiture.