Friday, July 26, 2013

The Bather of Valpinçon (1808)

Jean-August-Dominique Ingres: The Bather of Valpinçon

Ingres did a number of "bather" paintings (including this one); today's is generally considered to be his best. Remarking on Ingres ability to paint the human body in a unique manner, the art critic Robert Rosenblum wrote that "the ultimate effect of the The Valpinçon Bather is of a magical suspension of time and movement-even of the laws of gravity...the figure seems to float weightlessly upon the enamel smoothness of the surface, exerting only the most delicate pressure, and the gravitational expectations of the heaviest earthbound forms are surprisingly controverted." The French poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) described the model as having a "deep voluptuousness," yet in many ways she is presented as essentially chaste. [preceding comments via Wikipedia]

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