Why did Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres dismiss his own portrait drawings as potboilers?

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres dismissed his portrait drawings as "potboilers" because he produced them primarily out of financial necessity rather than artistic ambition.1

Following the fall of the Napoleonic empire in 1815 and the subsequent French evacuation of Rome, Ingres found himself in a precarious financial situation and desperate for work. To support himself, he began creating small-scale portrait drawings of English and other tourists visiting Italy.1

Although these works are now highly regarded for their technical precision, inventive posing, and ability to capture an exact likeness, Ingres personally scorned them. Throughout his career, he sought to establish his reputation as a creator of grand history paintings, a genre he considered far more prestigious than portraiture. Consequently, he viewed the portrait drawings as mere commercial products—or "potboilers"—created to earn an income rather than to fulfill his higher aspirations as an artist.12