Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Ingres Bourdelle Museum, formerly the Ingres Museum, is housed in the former Episcopal Palace of Montauban, built in the 17th century on the ruins of the medieval castle of the Black Prince, built by Édouard Plantagenet during the Hundred Years War. This castle was destroyed after the town was taken over by Richelieu, and Bishop Pierre de Bertier built a classical palace there, mixing the medieval hall of the Black Prince with a brick structure, typical of Montauban. The palace became a symbol of the reaffirmation of Catholicism in this Protestant city.

After the Revolution, the Episcopal Palace, confiscated, became the city hall before being transformed into a museum in the late 19th century. In 1851, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres offered his hometown part of his collections, including drawings, paintings, Greek vases and personal objects such as his violin. When he died in 1867, his legacy greatly enriched the museum, which was officially inaugurated in 1854 and classified as a historic monument in 1910. During the Second World War, the museum even served as a refuge for the Mona Lisa and other works of the Louvre.

The museum underwent several major renovations, notably between 1951 and 1958, and between 2016 and 2019, where it was modernized and expanded to reach 2,700 m2. Renamed the Ingres Bourdelle Museum in homage to the two artists of Montalban, it now houses 4,500 drawings and 44 paintings by Ingres, as well as 70 sculptures and graphic works by Bourdelle. His collections also include Gallo-Roman antiques, Renaissance paintings in the 19th century, and local archaeological remains exhibited in basements, such as the Black Prince's Hall.

The museum is distinguished by its graphic arts cabinet, temporary exhibitions, and spaces dedicated to archaeology and local history, including capitals of medieval abbeys and Gallo-Roman objects. It is the only museum in the world entirely dedicated to Ingres and has the largest fonds of its drawings. The works are presented on a redesigned museum trail, with accessible spaces and modern services such as an auditorium and a bookshop.

The collections, consisting of donations, bequests and acquisitions, have more than 35,000 records available online. Highlights include works by students of the Ingres (such as Hippolyte Flandrin or Eugène Amaury-Duval), Italian and Flemish paintings of the 14th-17th centuries, and sculptures by Bourdelle, illustrating his artistic evolution. The museum remains a key place to understand Montauban's artistic heritage and its role in the religious and cultural history of Occitanie.

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