Portrait of a Man 

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres made this portrait in Rome in 1801, employing a free and expressive drawing style. As we look closer, we might ask, what was Ingres doing in Rome at such a young age? We know that the French Academy in Rome provided stipends for French artists to study classical art and architecture. In its focus on the antique, the French Academy consciously perpetuated the artistic ideals of the old regime even after the French Revolution. Ingres, who would later become a leading figure at the Academy, here situates himself in its institutional orbit. This portrait is a social document, and it offers us a glimpse into the institutional structures that governed the art world at the time. Art historians use archival resources, such as letters, inventories, and institutional records, to reconstruct this history, and in doing so, we can understand how artists like Ingres were shaped by the institutions of their time.