Why it matters
Ingres's reclining concubine, seen from behind with a small head and impossibly long back, was heavily criticised when first shown. His contemporaries saw it as his break from Neoclassicism towards exotic Romanticism.
Did you know?
- It was commissioned by Napoleon's sister, Queen Caroline Murat of Naples.
- The pose is borrowed from David's Portrait of Madame Récamier.
- One critic said it had 'neither bones nor muscle, neither blood, nor life'.
- The Louvre bought it in 1899.
Based on the Wikipedia article Grande Odalisque (CC BY-SA 4.0).
