Madame Jacques-Louis Leblanc (Françoise Poncelle, 1788–1839)

For this portrait there are more than two dozen drawings investigating a variety of poses (Musée Ingres, Montauban). Similar studies do not exist for the likeness of Madame Leblanc’s husband (19.77.1). The two paintings—the only pair of portraits Ingres produced—were probably intended to hang facing one another, since the light falls differently in each, but they are unified by the visual harmony of hands, gold chains, and rich textiles that enhance the couple’s black clothing. This work, however, was exhibited without its pendant at the Salon of 1834. (Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)