Focus on this artwork and explain the Commission.
Joséphine-Éléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn (1825–1860) married Albert, 4th Duke de Broglie on 18 June 1845, and they had five sons together. On the occasion of their marriage, they styled themselves 'Princesse' and 'Prince' respectively, due the former title of 'Prince of the Holy Roman Empire' granted to the House of Broglie (1759). Pauline was a highly intelligent and religious woman, who was well read and wrote a number of texts over her lifetime. Her shyness was well known; she was widely considered strikingly beautiful and charming, but those around her would often avoid eye contact so as not to embarrass her. Albert was devoted to his wife, and commissioned the painting after being impressed by Ingres's 1845 portrait of his sister, the Comtesse d'Haussonville.Albert approached Ingres around 1850 to undertake the portrait. Ingres dined with the de Broglie family in January 1850, and according to one eyewitness, "seemed to be very happy with his model".
Although Ingres's chief source of income came from portraiture, it distracted from his main interest in history painting, which early in his career, was far less lucrative. He found acclaim in the 1840s, when he became successful enough to no longer depend on commissions. This painting was Ingres's second-last female portrait, and final society portrait. Influenced by the working methods of Jacques-Louis David, Ingres began with a number of nude preparatory sketches, for which he employed professional models. He built up a picture of the sitter's underlying anatomical structure, as seen in the Musée Bonnat study, before deciding how to build the lavish costume and accessories. Although there is no surviving record of the commission, and the exact sequence of events is uncertain, the sketches can be dated from 1850, the year the style of her evening dress came into fashion. Ingres signed and dated the final picture at the left center "J. INGRES. pit 1853".Pauline died in 1860 aged 35 from tuberculosis. After her death, Albert published three volumes of her essays on religious history. Albert (who, in 1873, became the 28th Prime Minister of France) lived until 1901, but was heartbroken and did not remarry. He kept her portrait for the remainder of his life draped in fabric and hidden behind a velvet curtain, lending it only to select exhibitions. After his death, the painting passed within the family until 1958 when it was sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art via the banker and art collector Robert Lehman, and is today held in the Lehman Wing. The family kept most of the jewelry and accessories seen in the painting, although the marabou feathers were sold to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum.
tuberculosis Jacques-Louis David Albert, 4th Duke de Broglie Prince of the Holy Roman Empire de Broglie Roman history painting Musée Bonnat House of Broglie fr Comtesse d'Haussonville marabou left Robert Lehman Prime Minister of France Metropolitan Museum of Art