"Ingres" audacity is of a quite extraordinary nature, and it is combined with such cunning that the artist does not flinch from any ugliness or strangeness. A rare talent, cruel, violent and suffering, a unique blend of conflicting qualities, all employed for the advantage of nature, and whose strangeness is not the least of its attractions. Ingres' works are the result of a heightened power of observation, and need to be observed with equal attention in order to be understood."