The artwork titled “Charles Robert Cockerell” is a portrait by the renowned artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, completed in the year 1817. This piece is a testament to the Neoclassical art movement, which sought to emulate the purity and simplicity of the arts of Rome and ancient Greece. As a portrait, it captures the essence of its subject and reflects the intellectual and aesthetic ideals of that epoch.
The artwork depicts a man in a three-quarter pose, gazing directly towards the viewer. His facial expression is poised and measured, conveying a sense of thoughtful composure. The details of his face are rendered with fine, delicate lines, showcasing Ingres’s mastery in creating lifelike representations with subtle gradations of light and shadow. The sitter’s hair is styled in a fashion consistent with the period, with curls framing the forehead.
He wears a high-collared shirt and cravat, partly obscured by a thick overcoat adorned with fur, which imparts a tactile quality to the drawing. The intricacies of his attire, including the folds of the fabric and the textures of the various materials, are sketched with a light touch, yet they exhibit Ingres’s careful observation and skill. The overall execution of the portrait, though seemingly in an unfinished state, suggests a strong sense of individual character and a dignified elegance characteristic of the Neoclassical pursuit of ideal beauty.