Das Martyrium des heiligen Symphorian

Ingres worked on this for about ten years, filling more than 200 drawings and a dozen oil studies before he was done. It shows the death of Saint Symphorian, said to be the first Christian martyr in Gaul, dragged to his execution at Autun as his mother cries out to him from the city wall. Ingres thought it one of the great achievements of his life. When he showed it at the Paris Salon of 1834 the critics tore into it. He was so wounded that he swore never to exhibit at the Salon again and refused further public commissions, then took the post of director of the French Academy in Rome and left France that December. The painting went to Autun Cathedral, where it still hangs.