The Turkish Bath

The Turkish Bath is a remarkable circular painting (tondo) completed by Ingres at the age of 82, making it one of the last major works by the great Neoclassical master. The painting depicts a group of nude women lounging in the steamy interior of a harem bath, inspired by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's 18th-century letters describing her visits to Turkish women's baths.

The painting is a culmination of Ingres's lifelong fascination with the female form and Orientalist subject matter. Many of the figures recycle poses from earlier works spanning his entire career, making the painting a kind of retrospective anthology. The cool, idealized flesh tones and sinuous outlines are quintessentially Ingres.

Originally rectangular, Ingres reworked the painting into its distinctive circular format. It passed through several private collections before being acquired by the Louvre in 1911 through the Société des Amis du Louvre, and it remains one of the most discussed works in the museum's collection.