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Notes

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This small canvas mounted on panel shows two imaginary portraits of figures from Ancient Greece. The main figure, whose bearded face is shown in profile, is the lyric poet Pindar (518–438 BC). Behind him, and in shadow, is Ictinus, the architect of the Parthenon, who lived in the mid-fifth century BC. To help us identify them, Ingres has given each the tools of his trade: Pindar, wearing a wreath of laurel leaves – a mark of his poetic achievement – holds a lyre and Ictinus holds an architect’s ruler.

Ingres had included a very similar portrait of Pindar in his monumental painting The Apotheosis of Homer, a ceiling decoration he completed in 1827 at the Louvre, Paris. The painting shows a group of over 40 figures in front of an ancient Greek temple, arranged symmetrically around the enthroned poet, Homer.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Pindar and Ictinus

Date

probably 1830-67

Medium

Oil on canvas, laid down on panel

Measurements

H 34.9 x W 27.9 cm

Accession number

NG3293

Acquisition method

Bought, 1918

Work type

Painting

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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Artist or maker

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

1780–1867

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