Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’s 1845 portrait of Louise de Broglie, Comtesse d’Haussonville, has always been a crowd favorite at the Frick Collection in New York City, but now, after the museum’s four-year renovation, it will hang in the gloriously restored (and newly opened to the public) second-floor galleries. The painting has had an unusual journey, acquired eight years after Henry Clay Frick, the robber baron/art collector who lived here, died in 1919. Here’s how it ended up in what was once his bedroom.
1840
The Comtesse d’Haussonville (née Louise, Princesse de Broglie) asks Ingres, already an in-demand artist, to paint her portrait. The commission, which he begins in 1842, takes him three years but is an immediate sensation. The comtesse keeps the painting at her estate in Switzerland and bequeaths it to her daughter.
A self-portrait by Ingres.
1927
The portrait is sold to the Wildenstein gallery in New York, which quickly sells it to the Frick. Henry’s daughter Helen Clay Frick continues after her father’s death to collect art for the estate.
1935
After the death of Helen’s mother Adelaide Howard Childs Frick, in 1931, the family mansion is opened to the public. Ingres’s portrait is briefly displayed in the building’s new East Gallery.
Helen Clay Frick in Belgium, August 1920.
1945
The picture moves to the North Hall, where it draws crowds and grows in popularity.
1985
Back to the East Gallery as the centerpiece of a major exhibition, “Ingres and the Comtesse d’Haussonville,” which features works by the artist on loan from other museums and collectors.
The Frick Collection, photographed before the renovation.
1999
Loaned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a blockbuster show dedicated to the artist’s portraits. (The Frick has also loaned the portrait to many other institutions over the years, including the Louvre in 2006 and the Prado in 2015.)
2021
Moved from its regular spot in the North Hall to the Frick Madison (the temporary name of the Marcel Breuer building that previously housed the Whitney and will next be home to Sotheby’s) while the museum embarks on its renovation.
An archival shot of Henry Clay Frick’s former bedroom in his Fifth Avenue mansion. It was used as a conference room by staff but has been fully restored and is the new home of the portrait.
This story appears in the April 2025 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
Norman Vanamee is the articles director of Town & Country.
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