Viewing page 17 of 73

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

13 January 1969

To Miss Mongan, regarding questionable Ingres portrait in the Winthrop Bequest, for her visit to [[strikethrough]] Seligm [[/strikethrough]] Germain Seligmann, New York.

With deep appreciation,
Phyllis

Known as "The Portrait of a Young Man with a Top Hat," the unsigned, undated portrait from the Winthrop Bequest (1943.250) has been questionably attributed to Ingres, c. 1805. Exactly when and from where Mr. Winthrop acquired the portrait is apparently unknown. The Fogg's Winthrop files include correspondence from 1936 when he already owned the painting. In 1934, the work belonged to MM. Jacques Seligmann et Fils, Paris, who exhibited the hitherto undocumented painting in a charity exhibition of "Portraits par Ingres et ses élevès" held in their Paris gallery during March-April 1934. The catalogue of this show lists the work as Portrait d'homme, c. 1804, by Ingres and the picture was widely publicized in 1934 as just that. A letter from J. Seligmann's firm in New York to Mr. Winthrop, of March 18, 1936, identifies the sitter of the "Ingres portrait" as "obviously the portrait of a friend of Ingres, who like Ingres, was born in the neighborhood of Montauban.....most probably a Mr. Lambert who was very much interested in horses, and who lived in the south of France..." Martin Birnbaum in 1936 doubted the Ingres attribution but could find no proof for an alternative one. R. Huyghe in 1936 was unequivocally in favor of an Ingres attribution. In 1948, the present label, "Ingres (?)" was established, the question mark being the request of Miss Mongan. 

Today the portrait seems blatantly by someone other than Ingres and does not even approximate his style of representation, palette, or paint-handling. However, it seems to be the work of a competent, early 19th century French painter, rendered in the manner of a student of David. Its physical dimensions and color of priming are common technical characteristics of David and his school. The costume of the sitter and the palette of the background landscape in soft green-blues and pinks would suggest a date of 1790-95. It is conceivable that this portrait was painted by Francois Gérard during those years when he is still in David's studio. (Of. Gérard's Isabey and his Daughter, 1795, Louvre, for similar dress, delineation of facial features of the two men, particularly around the eyes, nose, contour of cheek, hair. Of. Gros's self-portrait and portrait of Gérard, both dated 1790, illustrated in Escholier, Gros, ses amis et ses élevès, Paris, 1936, for similarities in costume, age of sitter.) Gros's portrait of Gérard just mentioned was later engraved by Vallot in 1853 for the frontispiece of vol. I, Henri Gérard's L'Oeuvre du Baron Fr. Gérard, 3 vols., Paris 1852-57, and shows a marked similarity to the sitter in the Fogg portrait especially around the eyes, contour of face, shoulder, as well as similar background treatment. Could the Fogg painting be a Self-Portrait painted by Gérard, 6. 1790? I would like to pursue this possibility. Any information on the history of the Fogg's painting pre- or post-Seligmann's documented ownership in 1934 would be extraordinarily valuable. Good luck and many thanks!

Transcription Notes:
We are no longer to indicate [[underline]] - I removed.