Studies of a Head of a Man, Hands of Saint John for Christ Offering Saint Peter the Keys to Paradise, and Hooded Capuchin monk

This unusual canvas from around 1824 shows Ingres at work on the preparatory material for his Christ Giving the Keys to Saint Peter (now Montauban Cathedral). The composite nature of the painting — head and hands studies alongside a separate figure of a hooded Capuchin monk — reveals how Ingres built major compositions through intensive individual study. Such works blur the line between preparation and finished art; their extraordinary technical quality makes them remarkable objects in their own right. The Rhode Island School of Design's holding represents an intimate window into Ingres's exacting methodology.

Each study is executed with Ingres's razor-sharp precision — the line defining form with lapidary control, flesh modeled in smooth, porcelain-like layers. The varied scale of the figures across a single canvas gives the work an almost collage-like quality that was never intended for public display.