Published to accompany an international exhibition, this is a study of the portraits by the French painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. They were created over the first seven decades of the 19th century and were described by a critic in 1855 as "the most faithful image of our epoch". The book brings together a wide range of original-source materials, including letters, critical reviews, biographical documents and photographs. The major portraits are discussed and reproduced, and more than 100 portrait drawings and many preparatory studies are also included.