Study for "Raphael and the Fornarina"(?)

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

ca. 1814(?) · Graphite on white wove paper · Robert Lehman Collection

This beguiling drawing relates to "Raphael and La Fornarina", a subject Ingres painted on several occasions. In the painting, Raphael appears in the studio with his fabled mistress-model “La Fornarina” (the baker’s daughter) sitting on his lap. Ingres, who greatly admired Raphael, seems to have had Raphael’s love interest in mind at the very moment of his own courtship and marriage to Madeleine Chapelle. Madeleine has been identified as the model for this study drawn from life.

Artist

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Date

ca. 1814(?)

Medium

Graphite on white wove paper

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975