Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Formerly thought to be a study for the painting in the Frick Collection, New York, this drawing is now believed to have been made by Ingres as a model for an outline engraving after the painting's completion. All parts of the painting are described with a careful and even line so that the whole may be reproduced effectively, making this unlike other portrait drawings by Ingres in RISD's collection, which distinguish strongly between a highly finished head and a more loosely described body.

The exhibited drawing's function is also signaled by the absence of any attempt to describe light and shade with areas of modulating tones. The line itself is made to carry out this representational work. Well-lit areas are reproduced in a darker, heavier line; shadowed sections are more lightly treated. This drawing represents a rare opportunity to witness an artist working in the space between original and reproduction. Ingres grapples with the difficulties involved in translating hue and tone into line.