Amédée-David, the Comte de Pastoret

This portrait of Amédée-David, the Comte de Pastoret, is one of several artworks he commissioned from his friend Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Pastoret likely played a role in Ingres’s admission to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and here he is seen wearing the embroidered black uniform reflective of his role as auditor for the Council of State. The shimmering Legion of Honor medal hung high around his neck with a red ribbon and the exquisitely detailed golden sword hilt alleviate the somber darkness of his costume. Pastoret stands outlined against forest-green silk wallpaper and a swag of matching drapery, with one hand resting on his hip and the other thumb tucked casually into his jacket. With confidence and swagger—and a less-than-subtle air of disinterest—Pastoret stares directly at the viewer with the grandeur typical of Ingres’s aristocratic portraits.

This painting stayed with Pastoret’s family until the death of his daughter in 1890, and in 1897 it was purchased by the famed Impressionist painter Edgar Degas. Ingres was a consistent source of artistic inspiration for Degas, himself a portraitist who owned some twenty paintings and over eighty drawings by the older artist. Degas kept this likeness of Pastoret in his art collection until his own death in 1917.