Odalisque with Slave

Odalisque with Slave from 1842 at the Walters Art Museum is one of Ingres's most celebrated Orientalist fantasies. The reclining odalisque attended by a musician creates a vision of Eastern luxury that, though entirely imaginary, established the template for decades of French Orientalist painting. 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...

The sinuous line of the reclining figure demonstrates Ingres's supreme control of contour. The smooth, porcelain-like flesh and the rich colors of the fabrics and setting create a scene of sensuous refinement.