Abstract: From the point of view of Ingres’ critical, more specifically literary, fortunes, the period from the death of the artist in 1867 to the early 1930s seems impoverished compared to that of his lifetime, and marked by criticism from the Salons. However, the arrival of paintings at the Louvre in 1875 and major exhibitions establish and legitimize the artist. Writers, when they go beyond anecdotes about Ingres’ character, focus on La Grande Odalisque or Le Bain turc, acquired by the Louvre in 1899 and 1911.