Portrait of Charles Marcotte
Portrait of Charles Marcotte is an 1810 oil on canvas painting by the French Neoclassical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, completed during the artist's first stay in Rome.
was 36 or 37 years old when the portrait was painted, and serving as inspector general for Waters and Forests in the Napoleonic department of Rome. Marcotte was one of the most significant French patrons of the arts in the 19th century and was a loyal supporter friend and adviser to Ingres. Over the years, he commissioned Ingres to paint several portraits of his family, friends and his mistress, as well as works such as Odalisque with Slave.
Ingres signed and dated the painting on the lower right, over the red cloth. The painting is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Description
Although handsome and possessing a strong bone structure, Marcotte is portrayed as dour and serious, dressed in an imposing military uniform, and given a stern facial expression, with tightly pursed lips, which are turned down at the corners. A number of art historians have noted how his stiffness resembles Ingres' own early self-portraits, particularly that of 1804.Marcotte stands against a plain grey-green background, leaning against a table draped with a red cloth. His stiff, starched white and yellow neck collar appears tight and restrictive. He wears a blue carrick with a cape and velvet collar over a white shirt and yellow waistcoat. Affectionately, his hair appears ruffled, which somewhat breaks the overall grim and morose tone. Special attention is given to his claw-like left hand, with its long sinuous fingers, the shape of which is echoed by the tassels protruding from the bicorne beside him.