NARRATOR:
Dominique Ingres was the most fashionable portraitist in 19th-century France. Here, he presents us with the Baron Joseph Vialetes de Mortarieu, a family friend from the artist’s hometown of Montauban in southern France. His limpid eyes, thick curls, and immaculate cravat add up to an impeccable combination of good looks, good breeding and good taste.
Each line defining this man’s appearance has a beauty all its own. Notice how the near perfect oval of his face contrasts with the lively, animated lines of his hair and elaborate cravat. With ultimate finesse, Ingres defines the edge of the stand-up collar against the cheek with a single stroke of white. The colors are as rich as the clothing. The billowing shirt lapels might be painted with fresh cream. Even within the velvety blackness of the coat, we can make out stylish details such as a slight gathering on the sleeve at the seam. Clearly, this man has an excellent tailor.
Posed against a blue sky, the baron seems destined for success, and indeed he was. In 1806, soon after this portrait was completed, he was elected mayor of Montauban, where he founded what is now the Ingres Museum. The array of decorations on his jacket, one of which was added later, include the red ribbon and star of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award.
Baron Joseph-Pierre Vialetès de Mortarieu
1805-1806
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (French, 1780-1867)
On View
An avid collector of the arts, Baron Vialetès is carefully described within a triangular silhouette that descends from his soft curly hair to his blue-black coat. His election in 1805 as mayor of Montauban, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s hometown in southwest France, may have occasioned this portrait. The medals on his coat indicate his prestigious membership in France’s Legion of Honor and Spain’s Order of King Charles lll, the two highest orders of merit in each country.
Depicted against a vast and tranquil sky, the baron makes a vivid impression with his focused gaze. However, the allure of his handsome face belies the subtle distortions of his facial features. His eyes are unevenly sized, his nose is sharply bent and his left eyebrow is unnaturally long. Exaggerated proportions like these are a common feature of Ingres’s portraiture. They allowed the artist to craft an idiosyncratic likeness for each sitter, while simultaneously subverting conventions of ideal beauty.
Details
- Artist Name: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (French, 1780-1867)
- Title: Baron Joseph-Pierre Vialetès de Mortarieu
- Date: 1805-1806
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 24 1/8 x 19 3/4 in. (61.2 x 50.2 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1983.03.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Baron Joseph Vialètes de Mortarieu (1768-1849), Montauban, by inheritance to;
His heir, sold c. 1905 (to a dealer in Biarritz, presumably);
[Delas, Biarritz], in 1929, or [Dufor-Quercy, Montauban and Biarritz];
Private Collection, France by 1956;
[Galerie Schmit, Paris/Sarec, S.A., Geneva by 1979, sold 10 December 1981, though E. V. Thaw, to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
His heir, sold c. 1905 (to a dealer in Biarritz, presumably);
[Delas, Biarritz], in 1929, or [Dufor-Quercy, Montauban and Biarritz];
Private Collection, France by 1956;
[Galerie Schmit, Paris/Sarec, S.A., Geneva by 1979, sold 10 December 1981, though E. V. Thaw, to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Exposition des beaux-arts
- Montauban, Hôtel de Ville, 1862-05 to
A Revolution of the Palette: The First Synthetic Blues and their Impact on French Artists
- Norton Simon Museum, 2015-07-17 to 2016-01-04
Reinstallation of Galleries: Art History of the 17th and 18th Century Gains Fresh Dimension
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-02 to 1995-08-13
- Gazette des Beaux-Arts, no. 192 p. 31
- Vigne, Georges, Ingres, fig. 31 p. 48
- Philip Consibee, Portraits by Ingres,
- Delaborde, Henri, Ingres. Sa vie, ses travaux, sa doctrine, 1870, no. 159
- Lapauze, Henry, Le roman d'amour de M. Ingres, 1910, p. 150
- Lapauze, Henry, Ingres, sa vie et son oeuvre (1780-1867) d'aprés des documents inédits, 1911, pp. 41, 47, 54
- Radius, Emilio and Ettore Camesasca, L'opera completa di Ingres, 1956, no. 39 p. 90
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 111
- Wildenstein, Georges, Ingres, 1995, no. 39, fig. 24
- Portraits by Ingres: Image of an Epoch, 1999, nos. 32-34, 52, 56, 58, 69, 546, fig. 52 pp. 33-34, 43
- Bajou-Charpentreau, Valérie, Monsieur Ingres, 1999, fig. 33 p. 62
- Constant, Benjamin, Adolphe, Oxford World's Classics, 2001, cover (detail)
- Pomarède, Vincent; Stéphane Guégan and Louis-Antoine Prat, Ingres 1780-1867, 2006, ill. 78 pp. 84, 105, 129
- Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1, 2006,
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1706 p. 438
- Museo Nacional del Prado, Ingres, 2015, fig. 77 p. 134
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