Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780–1867) - Study Of The Vestal

Jean Auguste Dominique INGRES (1780–1867)
Study of a Vestal Virgin

Black chalk with white highlights on beige paper, mounted on cardboard

30 x 18 cm – 11 ¾ x 7 ? in

Signed and inscribed lower left: à Mr Visconti / Ingres

Circa 1806–1807

Provenance:
Private collection, France

This refined study depicts a Vestal Virgin, an emblematic figure of ancient Rome, rendered with Ingres’s characteristic graphic precision. The subtle treatment of drapery, anatomical clarity, and restrained pose reveal the young artist’s neoclassical rigor.

The drawing can be dated to the early years of Ingres’s stay at the Villa Medici in Rome, shortly after his arrival in 1806 as a Prix de Rome laureate. The inscription to archaeologist Ennio Quirino Visconti—then curator at the Musée Napoléon and a key figure in classical studies—highlights Ingres’s intellectual and archaeological engagement with antiquity. This context suggests that the study may have been part of a larger historical or mythological project, now untraced.