Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

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 style. Although he considered himself a painter of history in the tradition of Nicolas Poussin and Jacques-Louis David, it is his portraits, both painted and drawn, that are recognized as his greatest legacy. His expressive distortions of form and space made him an important precursor of modern art, influencing Picasso, Matisse and other modernists.

29 August 1780

Born on the same birth day (29 August): David West (basketball) • Dick Halligan • Giorgio Orsoni • Jean-Baptiste Colbert • John Edward Williams • László Garai • Mallu Magalhães • Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony • Marquis James • Noah Syndergaard • The Radiators (American band)