Faith

Ingres took this commission in late July 1842 and had very little time. King Louis-Philippe wanted stained glass for the chapel he was raising in memory of his eldest son, and the glass painters of the royal porcelain factory at Sèvres started work that September. All 17 windows were in place by July 1843. This canvas is Ingres's full-size model for one of three round windows, each 1.2 metres across, showing the virtues Faith, Hope and Charity. Faith wears a Greek-style dress and a diadem. She holds up a chalice with the communion host above it and lays her other hand on her chest. At Sèvres the colours were brushed onto white glass in fluid layers, and Ingres kept a close watch on the work. In 1968 the chapel was moved to a nearby site to make way for the Palais des Congrès in Paris. Its windows were stored in a church crypt until they were put back in 1971.