Question 1

True or false: Ingres was a lifelong friend and rival of Eugène Delacroix, often debating color versus line.

Accepted Answer

True. They were polar opposites—Ingres championed line and classicism, Delacroix color and Romanticism—but respected each other.

Question 2

True or false: Ingres painted exclusively with oil on canvas, never using watercolors or drawings.

Accepted Answer

False. He was a prolific draftsman, leaving thousands of pencil portraits and preparatory drawings that are highly celebrated.

Question 3

True or false: Ingres was a self-taught artist who never attended formal art school.

Accepted Answer

False. He studied at the Toulouse Academy and later the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Jacques-Louis David.

Question 4

True or false: Ingres was a skilled violinist and once played in the Paris Opera orchestra.

Accepted Answer

True. Before fame as a painter, Ingres played violin professionally, coining the French phrase 'violon d'Ingres' meaning a secondary hobby.

Question 5

True or false: Ingres inspired the Surrealists, with Salvador Dalí calling him a 'pre-Surrealist'.

Accepted Answer

True. Dalí and others admired Ingres' elongated forms and dreamlike precision, seeing him as a precursor to their movement.

Question 6

True or false: Ingres painted the famous portrait 'Madame X' of a French socialite with a revealing black dress.

Accepted Answer

True. His 1856 portrait of Madame Moitessier caused scandal for its low-cut gown, though 'Madame X' is actually by John Singer Sargent.

Question 7

True or false: Ingres was a close advisor to Napoleon III and designed the emperor's coronation robes.

Accepted Answer

False. Ingres painted Napoleon I on his throne, but had no direct role in designing coronation robes for Napoleon III.

Question 8

True or false: Ingres hated the term 'Ingresque' and refused to acknowledge his own stylistic quirks.

Accepted Answer

False. He embraced his unique style, but critics coined 'Ingresque' to describe his elongated figures, which he defended as ideal beauty.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Trivia Questions