Shop art print and framed art Oedipe explique l'énigme du Sphinx by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Subjects : History, Mythology, Nude
Keywords : Neo-Classicism, Oedipus, Rocaille style, male nude, mythological scene, sphinx
(Ref : 93642) © RMN (Musée du Louvre) /Stéphane Maréchalle
Oedipe explique l'énigme du Sphinx by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres(Ref : 93642) © RMN (Musée du Louvre) /Stéphane Maréchalle
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Oedipe explique l'énigme du Sphinx OF Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
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Oedipe explique l'énigme du Sphinx
Oedipus Explains the Enigma of the Sphinx is a painting by the French painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, created as a study in 1808 and then taken up again and modified in 1827, when it was exhibited at the Salon. The painting was bequeathed to the Musée du Louvre in 1878 by Countess Duchâtel, widow of Count Tanneguy Duchâtel, and is part of the Paintings Department collection, where it bears the inventory number RF 218.
The work is Ingres' first "consignment from Rome" in the form of a figure study (an academy). It was sent with La Baigneuse, and judged negatively. Ingres took up this study again in 1827 with a view to exhibiting it at the Salon. He enlarged the canvas, enlarged the figure of the Sphinx, and added Oedipus' companion.
The painting is 1.89 metres high and 1.44 metres wide. It entered the collections of the Paintings Department of the Musée du Louvre in 1878, following a bequest from Countess Duchâtel, widow of Count Tanneguy Duchâtel, who was several times a minister under the July Monarchy. It bears the inventory number RF 218.
In this painting, Oedipus is naked (probably a model painted in the studio) except for a red cloth. He is armed with two spears and receives most of the light. The sphinx, a mythological creature with the head of a woman and the body of a lion, towers over Oedipus. A corpse and bones can be seen beneath its promontory. At bottom right, a man seems to flee at the sight of the sphinx. Behind the sphinx, Thebes can be made out. The [...]
This artwork is a painting from the classical period. It belongs to the neoclassicism style.
« Oedipe explique l'énigme du Sphinx » is kept at Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.