Disquieting Beauty: The Contradictions of Ingres’ Approach to Art
Daniele Iozzia

Abstract
This paper aims to investigate some of Ingres’ theoretical contradictions, in particular his defense of an adhesion to the living model against the concept that the artist has to draw on an ideal beauty. Although he claims to refute the classicistic concept of artistic activity, which is found in Cicero and Plotinus and is revised by Quatremère de Quincy, it is possible to identify a peculiar dichotomy between nature and ideal which informs Ingres’ reflection and which is manifested, sometimes in unexpected forms, in his paintings.

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