The Sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini

When this was painted in 1820, both men were living on what was left of Napoleon's Italy. Bartolini had run the sculpture school at Carrara under Napoleon's sister Elisa, who governed Tuscany. After the empire fell he set up a studio in Florence and worked for whoever would pay. Ingres was 40, short of commissions in Rome, and accepted Bartolini's invitation to come north. He stayed in Florence four years, grinding away at a huge altarpiece for the cathedral of Montauban while portraits like this one covered the rent. The two had known each other as students in Paris, in David's studio. Ingres signed it in plain words, Bartolini, sculptor, painted by Ingres at Florence, 1820. The picture stayed in private hands for over a century, and reached the Louvre in 1953 with the collection of Carlos de Beistegui.