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Painting in Feance. 587 following Carle Vernet, he was simply a painter of horses. It was not till towards the close of his life that Gericault executed the only great work of his life, the Baft of the Medusa (Fig. 177). This picture was at first received with a storm of reproaches, but when exhibited in London it won much praise, and is now one of the treasures of the Louvre. Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780 — 1867), at the age of sixteen, chose art as his profession, and entered the studio of the stern classic master David, where he re- mained four years. In 1800 he won the second, and in 1801 the first Academic prize, and received a pension of one thousand francs. In 1802 he painted his first important work, Bonaparte passing the Bridge of Kehl, and in 1806 went to Rome, where he remained until 1820, when he removed to Florence, where he resided four years, painting the Entry of Charles V. into Baris, and the Vow of Louis XIII. now in a church at Montauban. In 1824 he returned to Paris, to find the school of David supplanted by that of Delacroix. He then painted his Apotheosis of Homer, on a ceiling in the Louvre; in 1829 was elected Professor of Painting in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts; and in 1834 Di- rector of the French Academy in Rome. This appointment enabled him to return to the city of his affections, where, however, he painted but few pictures. He returned to France in 1841 ; in 1845 was nominated Commander, and in 1855 Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. Ingres left behind him, in addition to the masterpieces we have mentioned, several great works, including the Odalesque, which appeared in 1819 ; the Martyrdom of S. Symphorien, in the cathedral of Autun; Boger rescuing Angelique ; Stratonice (Fig. 178) ; Christ delivering the