Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

This combined image offers insight into the working methods of the French painter Ingres. In 1817, he received a commission for an altar panel depicting Jesus offering Peter the keys to heaven, to be installed in the Church of Trinità dei Monti in Rome. Ingres commonly made preparatory drawings and oil sketches to develop gestures and facial expressions, often including more than one subject on a single small canvas. Here only the hands-presented upside down-relate directly to the finished altarpiece, as they are similar to those of the Apostle John. The head may have served as a study of rapt expression. The odd sliver of the monk’s face and cowl may relate to a different composition.