Portrait of Mrs. Riviere by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Ingres, according to Charles Baudelaire, was “the only person in France who can really write portraits.” Funny, but the artist himself considered them a kind of annoying “load”, distracting him from creating “real” paintings. We Eiger is perceived in many ways precisely as a great portraitist. This portrait is a bold attempt to modernize the laws of classicism.

The recent disciple of David, Engr, unlike him, resorts to ornamentally complicated constructions. The oval shape is strictly motivated, for it allows to reduce the main rhythm of lines to variations of smooth, rounded outlines. And there is in this thing a certain nonsense, inherent in all engrave’s portraits. But in it lies their attractive power.

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