The Bather, known as the Valpinçon Bather 1808

by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

This work featuring a bathing woman is generally known by the name of one of its nineteenth-century owners. It was one of the works Ingres sent to Paris in 1808 when he was studying at the French Academy in Rome. This early work is a masterpiece of harmonious lines and delicate light. The woman's superb nude back left a deep impression on the artist; he returned to it in s...

Credit:: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
More:: https://goo.gl/H1SR2R

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Keisha KRArtist (GB)
8 years ago
This beautiful work inspired Man Ray to capture the phrase "[link=http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/54733/man-ray-le-violon-d'ingres-ingres's-violin-american-1924/]Le Violon d'Ingres (Ingres's Violin)[/link]" in his work featuring Kiki de Montparnasse. The phrase refers to a person who is known for one talent but is, more than a hobby, exceptional at another unrelated talent, in this case [link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Auguste-Dominique_Ingres#cite_note-Mongan_Naef_xix-7]Ingres and his violin[/link], having played second violin in the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse when he was thirteen to sixteen. Many describe Le Violon d'Ingres as a visual pun, depicting his muse, Kiki, as Ray's [i]violon d'Ingres[/i].