“Stop to appreciate the exquisite detail and sensitive rendering in this graphite portrait. It's a testament to the power of a simple pencil to capture a sitter's presence with remarkable elegance.”
In this graphite portrait, Palmyre Granger, Madame Paul Meurice, gazes out with a serene expression, her head slightly tilted. Her hair is pulled back, revealing an elegant neck and shoulders draped in a simple, high-necked gown. The artist captures the delicate texture of her skin and the soft folds of her clothing with remarkable precision, using graphite to create a sense of volume and depth. This drawing, created around 1840, exemplifies the detailed draftsmanship prevalent in the Neoclassical period, focusing on ideal forms and clear lines. The subtle shading and careful rendering of light and shadow give the portrait a timeless quality, inviting a close look at the sitter's composed demeanor and the artistry of the drawing itself.
- Artist
- Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
- Date
- 1840
- Medium
- Graphite on wove paper
- Location
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 22 × 17 5/8 in. (55.9 × 44.8 cm)
- Collection
- Drawings and Prints
- Credit line
- Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick, Louis V. Bell, and Harry G. Sperling Funds, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, and Leon D. and Debra R. Black Gift, 2016
What to Notice
Five details hide in plain sight. Here’s where to look.

The delicate lines defining the sitter's features and the contour of her face.
The subtle shading that gives volume to her hair and the fabric of her dress.
The way light catches the bridge of her nose and the curve of her cheek.
The intricate details of her high collar, suggesting lace or fine embroidery.
1 more detail is waiting.
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Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
1780–1867 · FranceJean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, a French Neoclassical painter, masterfully blended academic tradition with expressive distortions, influencing modernists like Matisse and Picasso.
Further Works by Ingres
Joseph-Antoine Moltedo (born 1775)
1805 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Amédée-David, the Comte de Pastoret
1823 · Art Institute of Chicago
The Virgin Adoring the Host
1841 · Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
Joséphine-Éléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn (1825–1860), Princesse de Broglie
1853 · Metropolitan Museum of Art
Frederic Sylvester Douglas
1815 · Art Institute of Chicago
Gabriel Cortois de Pressigny
1816 · Art Institute of Chicago
Pierre Alexandre Tardieu
1825 · Art Institute of Chicago
View of Saint Peter's in Rome
Art Institute of Chicago
More from Romanticism
More works to explore
Beyond Ingres and Romanticism: works from the same years, and from the other movements Portrait of Madame Paul Meurice, née Palmyre Granger belongs to.
Same movement · Academic art
The Combat of the Giaour and Hassan
Eugène Delacroix · 1826 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1820s–1850s
The Estuary Farm
Léon-Victor Dupré · 1831 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same movement · Neoclassicism
Head of a Child
Jacques-Louis David · 1768 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Stormy Sea Breaking on a Shore
J. M. W. Turner · 1840 · Yale Center for British Art
Same movement · Academic art
The Entombment of Christ
Caravaggio · 1600 · Pinacoteca Vaticana
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard
Eugène Delacroix · 1839 · Department of Paintings of the Louvre
Same movement · Academic art
Drunkenness of Noah
Michelangelo · 1509 · Sistine Chapel
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Young Woman
Jean-François Millet · 1844 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same movement · Academic art
Mona Lisa
Leonardo da Vinci · 1503 · Department of Paintings of the Louvre
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Wooded Landscape
Gustave Courbet · 1848 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same movement · Academic art
Lucretia
Raphael · Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Mount Chocorua and Moat Mountain from North Conway
William Hart · 1850
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Olive Trees
Vincent van Gogh · 1853 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Woman in a Blue Dress
School of William Matthew Prior · 1840 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Designs for a Decorated Dish, or Platter, and a Biscuit Barrel
Alfred Henry Forrester [Alfred Crowquill] · 1845 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Mr. James Mackie
Samuel Alcock & Company · 1830 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1820s–1850s
The Captive Slave (Ira Aldridge)
John Philip Simpson · 1827 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Figures at an Arcadian Fountain (Fountain of Egeria)
William Havell · 1840 · Reading Museum




