Oedipus and the Sphinx, after Ingres
Medium
Engraving on heavy wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 19 5/16 x 12 3/8 in. (49 x 31.5 cm) plate: 10 1/16 x 7 1/16 in. (25.6 x 18 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.485
Tags
Art Historical Context
This engraving by Claude-Ferdinand Ga captures Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s dramatic interpretation of the ancient Greek myth in which Oedipus confronts the Sphinx outside Thebes. Created in 1867, print reproduces Ingres’s celebrated 1808 painting, allowing viewers to study the tense encounter between the young hero and the mythical creature in fine detail. The composition highlights Oedipus’s calm resolve as he prepares to answer the Sphinx’s riddle, a moment symbolizing the triumph of human intellect over brute force. Gaillard’s meticulous engraving technique translates Ingres’s precise ...
About the Artist
Claude-Ferdinand Gaillard|Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (French|French) · 1834 |1780 –1887 |1867
French, Paris 1834–1887 Paris|French, Montauban 1780–1867 Paris