by
Thea Tweet
Late August and early
September of 1800 found two extraordinary young men in Paris. Both had spent
their childhood in the south of France, away from the worst aspects of the
French Revolution. Before long, Napoleon would crown himself
Emperor, and some measure of stability enabled Ingres to enter the studio of
Jacques Louis David, the most famous painter of his generation. While in
David’s studio Ingres would win the Prix de Rome. His friend Bernier had just
attached himself to a scientific expedition to the Far East. For two
young men, both twenty years old and hailing from the remote French town of
Montauban, these were notable accomplishments
.
Their fortunate
juxtaposition resulted in the portrait that the Memorial Art Gallery acquired
in 1956. Although it is unsigned, Ingres included it in his list of paintings
in his notebook. A confirming label was lost when the painting was
earlier relined. The medium of the painting, oil on paper mounted on
canvas, is somewhat unusual. It might be explained by the poverty of
both the painter and his subject.
The quality of the
portrait is immediately visible upon first inspection. Ingres became famous for
his ability to capture a likeness. Even his later rapid sketches of visiting
tourists are remarkable for being lifelike. Fortunately, in addition
to the Bernier portrait, MAG owns a fine example of Ingres’ drawing of his
friend, the sculptor Cortot. Ingres’ drawings were remarkable.
Though they were done quickly, the artist managed to capture the
personality of the subject.
A closer
examination of MAG’s painting shows a noticeable difference between the left
and right side of the face, and suggests that the painter was standing somewhat
to Bernier’s left when he created the work. What might appear to be
a “five-o-clock shadow” might be the beginning of a mustache and beard, or it
could be the way Ingres modeled the face.
He
frequently used the grey-green prime coat for shadows and added the flesh tones
where they were needed.Other notable aspects of
the painting are the extraordinary amount of curly hair, the lavish shirt with
its fashionable stock and the prominent button with its anchor insignia. All of
these details are secondary to the immensely appealing face portrayed here.
Bernier’s lively, alert expression conveys an active mind.
The painter Jean Auguste-Dominique
Ingres was born in 1780 and lived until 1867. During his entire life he yearned
to be remembered as a history painter, but to this day he is most admired for
his luscious nudes and for his portraits of elegant society men and women. Like
his American counterpart John Singer Sargent, he detested doing these portraits
and once kept a woman waiting ten years for hers!
The years Ingres spent
in Italy deepened his love of Raphael and refined his style. He had always been
an excellent amateur violinist, and he continued his performances on the
violin, the silky tones of his music reminding his listeners of the silken
textures of his paintings. He may well have found that organizing musical
soirees was a welcome relief from those everlasting portraits.
A great deal is, of
course, known about Ingres, but it is somewhat surprising that so much is known
about Bernier. Still known as Citizen Bernier ten years after the French
Revolution, he had already distinguished himself as a mathematical prodigy who
was published as a co-author at only 17 years of age. He was in Paris as what
we would call today a graduate student and restless for a exciting
life. over, he was anxious to avoid the universal draft. Consequently, he
signed on to be a civilian scientist on an expedition to the East Indies.
(Hence the anchor button on his portrait.)
Before he left France
Bernier wrote a letter to his
parents:
“If I have the good
fortune to return, the government, which is just and generous, will help me find
the means to make you as you were before the Revolution. That is, in
comfortable circumstances, but not wealthy. I will have the honor of being
useful to France and of helping to extend the limits of human knowledge. What
are the dangers compared to such great incentives? And even if I should die
there, isn’t a short but useful life really longer than many years spent in
idleness or useless pastimes?”
On September 28,1800
Bernier left Paris to join the expedition of two sailing vessels with a
complement of astronomers, zoologists and botanists. They were destined for the
very long trip around the Cape of Good Hope, through the Indian Ocean, with
landfall on northern Australia. Several of the scientists abandoned the
expedition long before it reached there, but unfortunately, Bernier did not.
In addition to his
astronomical and meteorological observations, Bernier had begun some pioneering
anthropological studies. He did not much care for the aborigines of Australia,
but he was beguiled by the natives of Timor and was making a study of their
language as well as their customs.
On June 6, 1803,
Bernier’s life was cut short by fever, and he was buried at sea--only 23 years
old. Subsequently his colleagues wrote of “his gentle and modest character, his
friendly and obliging ways, his coeur et esprit.”
Thirty years later
another scientist attached to a naval expedition traveled along the southern
coast of Australia on his way home from a five-year expedition, which he
described in “The Voyage of the Beagle.” Many years later he lived to write Origin
of the Species. He was Charles Darwin. Had Bernier been
spared, what would he have left us?
Of the many portraits
Ingres painted in his 87 years, there is not another that
evokes nostalgia than this early picture of Pierre-François
Bernier.
Source: Porticus, 1984;
Karin H. Grimme, “Ingres,” curatorial files.
NB: The prestigious Prix
de Rome is an award given by the French government to students of the fine
arts. The competition is conducted yearly by the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris
and is open to students between the ages of fifteen and thirty. Ten students are
chosen for the final competition. The prize consists of a four-year scholarship
at the Académie de France in Rome, allowance for expenses, and exemption from
military service.
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