Head of a Young Woman

This Head of a Young Woman from around 1824 at the Artizon Museum in Tokyo may be a study for a larger composition. Such head studies reveal Ingres's working process and his extraordinary ability to capture beauty and character in a concentrated format. Ingres built his oil surfaces through meticulous underdrawing in graphite, then applied smooth, controlled layers that eliminated all visible brushwork—a deliberate rejection of the painterly Romantic style of Delacroix.

The head is rendered with Ingres's characteristic smooth modeling and precise contours. The warm flesh tones and delicate features demonstrate his ideal of feminine beauty.