Gabriel Cortois de Pressigny

Gabriel Cortois de Pressigny, created in 1816 by the renowned French Neoclassical master Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, is a precise and compelling example of the artist's lesser-known printmaking output. This refined portrait is executed as an etching on laid paper, a medium that demands meticulous control and precision, echoing the draftsmanlike quality characteristic of Ingres’s celebrated large-scale paintings. Produced during the period spanning 1801 to 1825, a time of significant political transition in France, the work contributes to the visual record of prominent figures in the post-Napoleonic era.

While Ingres is primarily celebrated for his masterful oil paintings, his production of portrait prints, often executed based on specific commissions or personal connections, provides a crucial supplement to his formal oeuvre. The etching captures the subject, likely a member of the clerical or governmental elite, with Ingres’s characteristic economy of line, focusing on psychological depth through the precise rendering of facial features and formal attire. The stark contrast inherent in the etching technique enhances the sitter's authoritative and unyielding presence. Ingres relied on an unwavering precision that solidified his position as the premier Neoclassical draftsman in French art, distinguishing his style from the more emotional and spontaneous approaches of his Romantic contemporaries.

This particular impression of Gabriel Cortois de Pressigny resides within the comprehensive collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., contributing to the museum’s significant holdings of 19th-century prints. As an early work in Ingres’s mature career, dating specifically to 1816, the piece demonstrates the artist’s technical versatility beyond the canvas. The availability of high-quality prints and reproductions through public domain archives ensures that this important aspect of Ingres’s graphic output, essential for understanding the portrait conventions of early 19th-century France, remains accessible to scholars and enthusiasts globally.