Gabriel Cortois de Pressigny

Claiming to be the rightful heir of Jacques-Louis David, Ingres relied on a linear style and classical antiquity for models. Although long considered the quintessential academic artist for these reasons, his membership in the Academy was, in fact, tumultuous. Colleagues criticized what they perceived as his elastic and decidedly anti-classical treatment of anatomy. This is the only print Ingres made in his career, and its impact on a later generation of artists is apparent in other works on view in this gallery, such as that by Alphonse Legros.