Ingres was born in Montauban, France in 1780, he first traveled to Paris in 1797 and began studying under the Neo-Classical master David. In 1801 Ingres won the prestigious Prix de Rome, with his mythology based work "The Ambassadors of Agamemnon" (1801).

Ingres remained in Rome when his four year scholarship ended, earning a living by executing pencil portraits of members of the French colony residing there.

Ingres returned to France and continued painting. Always attracted to Greek themes, he painted a huge Homeric work "Zeus and Thetis" (1811), depicting a passage from The Iliad .

The work that would make Ingres famous was the enormous historical themes piece "The Vow of Louis XIII" (1824). With this painting he became the recognized leader of the Neo- Classical school first introduced by his teacher J. L. David. This school, which emphasized line and draftsmanship, was in direct opposition with the Romantic school and its leaders Eugene Delacroix and Theodore Gericault. Delacroix and Gericault saw color as the most critical factor in a painting. In 1855 both Ingres and Delacroix were awarded gold medals for their works at the Exposition Universielle in Paris.

Ingres strengths, his superb draftsmanship and precise Neo-Classical linear style were perfectly suited to portraiture and some of his best work can be seen there.