Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres - Paolo et Francesca (1816 drawing)

See source: Small but highly finished, this intimately executed yet powerful drawing of the ill-fated lovers Paolo and Francesca relates to a subject that Ingres returned to repeatedly during his long career. It is a perfect, jewel-like work that encapsulates the artist’s approach to Romantic subjects of this type, and it is also extremely well preserved. Ingres himself clearly felt that this was a drawing of some considerable significance, as is clear from the fact that he presented it to his friend, the notable scholar Artaud de Montor, in 1816.