Henry IV Playing With his Children 1821

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres made this pencil drawing, Henry IV Playing With His Children, sometime in the early nineteenth century. Ingres's idealized depiction of domesticity invokes France's past, specifically the reign of Henry IV, who ruled from 1589 to 1610. Ingres was part of a generation of artists interested in history painting as a means of instilling civic virtue and national identity. His vision of the past was carefully mediated through his academic training. Ingres was associated with the French Academy, an institution that promoted a neoclassical style and hierarchical approach to subject matter. In this drawing, Ingres imagines a moment of royal intimacy, a vision of patriarchal benevolence. The drawing suggests how powerful institutions like the monarchy and the academy promoted specific notions of family and nation. To fully understand the artwork, we might consult historical archives, political theory, and contemporary criticism to contextualize this image within broader cultural debates about power and representation.