Ingres defective nude details of the "Grande Odalisque"

Ingres' Unconventional Masterpiece: La Grande Odalisque Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' 1814 painting La Grande Odalisque was met with harsh criticism upon its debut at the 1819 Paris Salon. The provocative subject matter - a nude Western woman in exotic Oriental attire, seen from behind - already pushed boundaries .
However, it was Ingres' unorthodox approach to anatomy that truly scandalized his contemporaries. Anatomical Distortions and Exaggerated Forms Ingres elongated the figure's spine and limbs, creating an undulating, serpentine form .
The model's hips are voluptuous, while her arms appear disproportionately slender .
Critics accused Ingres of disregarding anatomical realism, with one famously counting "three too many vertebrae" . Charles-Paul Landon, curator at the Louvre, dismissed the painting as a "defective" nude . Baudelaire's Appreciation In 1846, the influential critic Charles Baudelaire offered a more nuanced perspective. He described the painting in sensual terms, noting the "muscles, folds of flesh, shadows of dimples, monstrous undulations of skin" .
Baudelaire recognized that Ingres' unconventional approach to anatomy served a higher aesthetic purpose. Enduring Legacy Today, La Grande Odalisque is celebrated as a masterpiece of French Neoclassicism . Ingres' elongated forms and exotic subject matter foreshadowed the Romantic movement . The painting's charm lies in its defiance of anatomical rules in pursuit of a new, Ingres-ian ideal of beauty . La Grande Odalisque remains one of the most iconic works at the Louvre
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