The Martyrdom of Saint Symphorian

The Martyrdom of Saint Symphorian of 1834 was Ingres's most ambitious religious history painting, depicting the execution of the second-century Christian martyr at the Porte Saint-André in Autun. The painting took him years to complete and was received with devastating criticism at the 1834 Salon, after which Ingres left Paris permanently for Rome where he became director of the French Academy. Despite the critical failure, the painting demonstrates extraordinary technical command and compositional ambition, the crowd's emotional reactions to the martyr's calm resolution creating a complex psychological theater.

Ingres's monumental composition arranges the complex scene with rigorous classical organization. The muscular figures and the strong, precise drawing demonstrate his commitment to the grand manner of religious history painting, though the emotional intensity betrays a Romantic undercurrent.