Artwork
Four Magistrates of Besançon (Quatre magistrats de Besançon)
Four Magistrates of Besançon (Quatre magistrats de Besançon) is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. It dates from 1825 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1825, the lithograph *Four Magistrates of Besançon* presents a formal grouping of four municipal officials seated on an elevated platform. Rendered in monochrome on wove paper, the image captures the dignified bearing of each figure, whose attire and posture convey the authority of early‑nineteenth‑century civic leadership in the French city of Besançon.
Subject & Meaning
The work records a specific moment of municipal deliberation, portraying the magistrates as embodiments of civic order. Their solemn expressions and the presence of a document in the left‑hand figure’s hand suggest a legal or administrative discussion, emphasizing the role of the local judiciary within the broader framework of French republican institutions.
Technique & Style
Executed as a lithograph, Ingres employed the fine lines and tonal gradations characteristic of early nineteenth‑century printmaking. The artist’s Neoclassical training is evident in the precise rendering of drapery, the balanced composition, and the restrained chiaroscuro that models the figures against a softly receded interior space.
History & Provenance
Jean‑Auguste‑Dominique Ingres, primarily known for his history paintings, produced this print during a period when he explored portraiture as a complementary genre. The lithograph was likely intended for a limited audience of patrons or municipal officials, and it has since entered the collections of institutions documenting Ingres’s print output, illustrating his engagement with academic orthodoxy amid the rise of Romanticism.
Artist & collection
Artist
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French Neoclassical painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic orthodoxy against the ascendant Romantic…
