Madame Ingres, née Madeleine Chapelle

This portrait of Madame Ingres, nee Madeleine Chapelle, from 1814 at the Buhrle Collection depicts the artist's first wife. Ingres married Madeleine in 1813 during his Rome years, and his intimate portraits of her reveal tenderness that contrasts with the formal rigor of his commissioned works. 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...

The intimate portrait combines personal warmth with Ingres's precise technique. The refined handling of the face and costume demonstrates how his method could serve deeply personal subjects.