 Portrait of Monsieur Bertin is an 1832 oil @-@ on @-@ canvas painting by Jean @-@ Auguste @-@ Dominique Ingres . It depicts Louis @-@ François Bertin ( 1766 – 1841 ) , the French writer , art collector and director of the pro @-@ <unk> Journal des débats . Ingres completed the portrait during his first period of success ; having achieved acclaim as a history painter , he accepted portrait commissions with reluctance , regarding them as a distraction from more important work . Bertin was a friend and a politically active member of the French upper @-@ middle class . Ingres presents him as a personification of the commercially minded leaders of the liberal reign of Louis Philippe I. He is physically imposing and self @-@ assured , but his real @-@ life personality shines through – warm , <unk> and engaging to those who had earned his trust . 
