Hendrik Scheffer
| Hendrik Scheffer | |
|---|---|
 Hendrik Scheffer (photo by Pierre Petit) | |
| Born |
25 September 1798 The Hague |
| Died |
15 March 1862 (aged 63) Paris |
| Nationality | Dutch, French |
| Education | Pierre-Narcisse Guérin |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Romanticism |
Hendrik Scheffer (The Hague, 25 September 1798 – Paris, 15 March 1862) was a Dutch painter in the Romantic tradition who lived in France for most of his life. In France he is usually known as Henri Scheffer.
Personal life
Scheffer was the younger brother of Ary Scheffer, son of Johann Baptist and Cornelia Scheffer and grandson of Arie Lamme. When his father died in 1809, his mother first moved to Brussels and in 1811 to Paris.
His daughter Cornélie married French philosopher Ernest Renan. Their son Ary Renan also became a painter.
Work
Scheffers work was not without merit, though far behind the work of his brother Ary. Like Ary he was also a pupil of Pierre-Narcisse Guérin. Although he was technically excellent, his drawing was incorrect and his colouring cold.
His work was much sought after in his lifetime. He mainly painted genre pieces and portraits which were finely crafted but had a cold quality. He also made history pieces but they are of inferior quality.
His work was exhibited at the Salon from 1824 onwards and was heavily criticised by Charles Baudelaire[1] and Théophile Gautier.[2]
His best known work is probably a picture portraying the arrest of Charlotte Corday (now in the Musée Lambinet), some selected others:
- Louis-Joseph de Vendôme (now in the musée de Vendôme)
- François Arago, the basis for the well known engraving by Alexandre Vincent Sixdeniers
- Armand Carrel
- Casimir Delavigne (now in musée national du château et des Trianons, in the Palace of Versailles)
- Ernest Renan (now in the Musée de la Vie Romantique)
- Augustin Thierry
Selected other works:
- An Inundation in Rome
- Joan of Arc entering Orléans (now in Versailles)
- Hermann and Dorothea
- Madame Roland
- Preaching after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
- The Battle of Cassel (now in Versailles)
- The dream of Charles IX in the night of St. Bartholomew, based on the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
His work has been copied many times in engravings.
The Dordrechts Museum has a section dedicated to the work of the Scheffers (mainly his brother Ary).
Students
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes studied with him for a time.
Awards
He was made a Chevalier in the Legion of Honor on 8 August 1837.[3]
Gallery
Christ on the Mount of Olives in the church of Chalifert
Joan of Arc entering Orléans
The Battle of Cassel_-_Amaury_VI_de_Montfort.jpg)
References
This article incorporates text from the article "SCHEFFER, Hendrik" in Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers by Michael Bryan, edited by Robert Edmund Graves and Sir Walter Armstrong, an 1886–1889 publication now in the public domain.
- ↑ (French) The 1845 Salon on the Litteratura website
- ↑ (French) The 1845 Salon on the Theophile Gautier website
- ↑ (French) Henri Scheffer in the Base Leonore
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry Scheffer. |
- (Dutch) Hendrik Scheffer on the DBNL website