His Ingres' emphatic use of line, his denial of form and weight, and his subjugation of content to the expressive potential of the graphic medium distinguish him from his predecessors. Ingres considered himself the rightful heir of his master, Jacques-Louis David, and was the archrival of Eugène Delacroix…He flattens the space and denies the corporality of the figures. The subjects become an excuse to create pattern.

from Snay, The Epic and the Intimate: French Drawings from the John D. Reilly Collection (Notre Dame, 2011)