<P> Ingres's choice of subjects reflected his literary tastes, which were severely limited: he read and reread Homer, Virgil, Plutarch, Dante, histories, and the lives of the artists . Throughout his life he revisited a small number of favourite themes, and painted multiple versions of many of his major compositions . He did not share his age's enthusiasm for battle scenes, and generally preferred to depict "moments of revelation or intimate decision manifested by meeting or confrontation, but never by violence ." His numerous odalisque paintings were influenced to a great extent by the writings of Mary Wortley Montagu, the wife of the ambassador to Turkey whose diaries and letters, when published, fascinated European society . </P> <P> Although capable of painting quickly, he often laboured for years over a painting . Ingres's pupil Amaury - Duval wrote of him: "With this facility of execution, one has trouble explaining why Ingres' oeuvre is not still larger, but he scraped out (his work) frequently, never being satisfied...and perhaps this facility itself made him rework whatever dissatisfied him, certain that he had the power to repair the fault, and quickly, too ." The Source, although dated 1856, was painted about 1820, except for the head and the extremities; Amaury - Duval, who knew the work in its incomplete state, professed that the after - painting, necessary to fuse new and old, lacked the vigour and precision of touch that distinguished the original execution of the torso . </P> <Ul> <Li> <P> Madame Rivière (1805--06), oil on canvas, 116.5 x 81.7 cm, Louvre </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Portrait of Charles Marcotte (1810), National Gallery of Art, Washington DC </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Portrait of Monsieur Bertin (1832), the Louvre </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Portrait of Comtesse d'Haussonville (1845), Frick Collection, New York </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Portrait of Baronne de Rothschild, (1848), Rothschild Collection, Paris </P> </Li> </Ul> <Li> <P> Madame Rivière (1805--06), oil on canvas, 116.5 x 81.7 cm, Louvre </P> </Li>

Who was known for precise and detailed portraits