Ary Scheffer
Encyclopedia
Ary Scheffer French
painter
of Dutch
and German
extraction, was born in Dordrecht
.
, a poor painter, Ary's mother Cornelia
, herself a painter and daughter of landscapist Arie Lamme
, took him to Paris
and placed him in the studio of Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
. When Scheffer left Guérin's studio, Romanticism
had come into vogue in France, with such painters as Xavier Sigalon
, Eugène Delacroix
and Théodore Géricault
. Scheffer did not show much affinity with their work and developed his own style, which has been called "frigidly classical".
Scheffer often painted subjects from literature, especially the works of Dante
, Byron
and Goethe. Two versions of "Dante and Beatrice" have been preserved at Wolverhampton Art Gallery
, United Kingdom, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
, USA. Particularly highly praised was his "Francesca da Rimini
" painted in 1836. Ary Sheffer's popular Faust
-themed paintings include "Margaret at her Wheel"; "Faust Doubting"; "Margaret at the Sabbat"; "Margaret Leaving Church"; "The Garden Walk", and "Margaret at the Well". In 1836, he painted two pictures of Goethe's character "Mignon".
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He now turned to religious subjects: "Christus Consolator" (1836) was followed by "Christus Remunerator", "The Shepherds Led by the Star" (1837), "The Magi Laying Down their Crowns", "Christ in the Garden of Olives", "Christ bearing his Cross", "Christ Interred" (1845), and "St Augustine and Monica" (1846).
"Christus Consolator" painting was lost for 70 years, was discovered in a janitor's closet in Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Dassel, Minnesota in 2007. It is restored and is on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Scheffer was also an accomplished portrait painter. His subjects included composers Frédéric Chopin
and Franz Liszt
, the Marquis de la Fayette, Pierre-Jean de Béranger
, Alphonse de Lamartine
, Charles Dickens
, Duchess de Broglie
, Talleyrand and Queen Marie Amélie
.
After 1846, he ceased to exhibit. His strong ties with the royal family caused him to fall out of favour when, in 1848, the Second Republic
came into being. Shut up in his studio, he produced many paintings that were only exhibited after his death, which took place at Argenteuil
on the 15th of June 1858. He is buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre.
Works first exhibited posthumously include "Sorrows of the Earth", and the "Angel Announcing the Resurrection", which he had left unfinished. By the time of his death, his reputation was damaged: though his paintings were praised for their charm and facility, they were condemned for poor use of color and vapid sentiment.
Scheffer was married to the widow of General Baudrand. His brother Henry, born at the Hague on 27 September 1798, was also a prolific painter. Scheffer was made commander of the Legion of Honour in 1848, that is, after he had wholly withdrawn from the Salon.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
of Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
extraction, was born in Dordrecht
Dordrecht
Dordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...
.
Life
After the early death of his father Johann BaptistJohann Baptist Scheffer
Johann Baptist Scheffer, painter and etcher, born at Cassel in 1773, a pupil of Tischbein, went early to the Netherlands, where at Dordrecht he married Cornelia Lamme, daughter of Arie Lamme, and became the father of Ary and Hendrik Scheffer. He produced several large historical works, and some...
, a poor painter, Ary's mother Cornelia
Cornelia Scheffer
Cornelia Scheffer was a Dutch painter and portrait miniaturist. She was the daughter of the painter Arie Lamme, by whom she was probably trained. She married the painter Johann Baptist Scheffer and after his death moved to Paris with their sons Ary and Hendrik Scheffer for them to be trained as...
, herself a painter and daughter of landscapist Arie Lamme
Arie Lamme
Arie Lamme , was a Dutch landscape painter and poet.Lamme studied under Joris Ponse at Utrecht, and practised in the style of Aelbert Cuyp. He was much engaged on decorative work, and was also a poet...
, took him to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and placed him in the studio of Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
Pierre-Narcisse, baron Guérin was a French painter.-Biography:Guérin was born in Paris.A pupil of Jean-Baptiste Regnault, he carried off one of the three grands prix offered in 1796, in consequence of the competition not having taken place since 1793...
. When Scheffer left Guérin's studio, Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
had come into vogue in France, with such painters as Xavier Sigalon
Xavier Sigalon
Xavier Sigalon , French painter, born at Uzès towards the close of 1787, was one of the few leaders of the romantic movement who cared for treatment of form rather than of colour.-Biography:...
, Eugène Delacroix
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...
and Théodore Géricault
Théodore Géricault
Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault was a profoundly influential French artist, painter and lithographer, known for The Raft of the Medusa and other paintings...
. Scheffer did not show much affinity with their work and developed his own style, which has been called "frigidly classical".
Scheffer often painted subjects from literature, especially the works of Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
, Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
and Goethe. Two versions of "Dante and Beatrice" have been preserved at Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Wolverhampton Art Gallery is located in the City of Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, United Kingdom. The building was funded and constructed by local contractor Philip Horsman , and built on land provided by the Council...
, United Kingdom, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
, USA. Particularly highly praised was his "Francesca da Rimini
Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta appraised by Dante and Virgil
Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta appraised by Dante and Virgil is the title of three paintings by Ary Scheffer, all oils on canvas showing a scene from Dante's Inferno of Dante and Virgil viewing Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta in Hell....
" painted in 1836. Ary Sheffer's popular Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
-themed paintings include "Margaret at her Wheel"; "Faust Doubting"; "Margaret at the Sabbat"; "Margaret Leaving Church"; "The Garden Walk", and "Margaret at the Well". In 1836, he painted two pictures of Goethe's character "Mignon".
"Christus Consolator" painting was lost for 70 years, was discovered in a janitor's closet in Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Dassel, Minnesota in 2007. It is restored and is on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Scheffer was also an accomplished portrait painter. His subjects included composers Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
and Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
, the Marquis de la Fayette, Pierre-Jean de Béranger
Pierre-Jean de Béranger
Pierre-Jean de Béranger was a prolific French poet and chansonnier , who enjoyed great popularity and influence in France during his lifetime, but faded into obscurity in the decades following his death...
, Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.-Career:...
, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, Duchess de Broglie
Albertine, baroness Staël von Holstein
Hedvig Gustava Albertina, Baroness de Staël-Holstein or simply Albertine , was the daughter of Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein and Madame de Staël, the granddaughter of Jacques Necker and Suzanne Curchod, wife to Victor, 3rd duc de Broglie, and mother to Albert, a French monarchist politician...
, Talleyrand and Queen Marie Amélie
Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies
Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily sometimes known as Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies was a Princess of Naples and Sicily and later the Queen of the French from 1830–1848, consort to Louis Philippe I....
.
After 1846, he ceased to exhibit. His strong ties with the royal family caused him to fall out of favour when, in 1848, the Second Republic
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
came into being. Shut up in his studio, he produced many paintings that were only exhibited after his death, which took place at Argenteuil
Argenteuil
Argenteuil is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department, the seat of the arrondissement of Argenteuil....
on the 15th of June 1858. He is buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre.
Scheffer was married to the widow of General Baudrand. His brother Henry, born at the Hague on 27 September 1798, was also a prolific painter. Scheffer was made commander of the Legion of Honour in 1848, that is, after he had wholly withdrawn from the Salon.
See also
- Musée de la Vie RomantiqueMusée de la Vie RomantiqueThe Musée de la Vie romantique stands at the foot of Montmartre hill in the IXe arrondissement, 16 rue Chaptal, Paris, France in a 1830 hôtel particulier facing two twin-studios, a greenhouse, a small garden, and a paved courtyard. The museum is open daily except Monday. Permanent collections are...
, Hôtel Scheffer-Renan, Paris