A Sleeping Odalisque

Ingres's Sleeping Odalisque, painted sometime between the 1810s and 1830s, belongs to his series of Oriental harem subjects that began with the Grande Odalisque of 1814 and continued throughout his career. The odalisque — a reclining nude figure in an Oriental harem setting — allowed Ingres to combine his primary subjects of the female nude and archaeological historical setting within a framework that was simultaneously erotic, ethnographic, and formally challenging. His odalisques were controversial for their deliberate anatomical distortions — elongated spines, extra vertebrae — that sacrificed anatomical accuracy for linear perfection in the service of an ideal of female beauty that transcended naturalistic observation.

Ingres's technique renders the reclining nude with his characteristic smooth, porcelain-like surfaces and supremely precise contours. The flesh tones are warm and luminous, modeled with imperceptible transitions that eliminate visible brushwork. The exotic accessories and fabrics provide colorful accents that contrast with the smooth perfection of the nude form.