1
PRESS KIT
EXHIBITION
19 APRIL TO
21 JULY 2014
EXHIBITION CURATORS
Stephen Bann, Emeritus Professor of History of Art and Senior Research
Fellow at Bristol University.
Stéphane Paccoud, Head Curator of 19th century collections of painting
and sculpture at the Fine Arts Museum of Lyon.
1
This exhibition has been declared to be of national
interest by the Ministry of Culture and Communication
and the Museum Service of France, and as such it receives
exceptional state financial support.
This exhibition has been compiled with the support of the National
Institute of Art History.
L’Invention du Passé, Gothique mon Amour... 1802-1830.
The exhibition is present at the Royal Monastery of Brou in Bourgen-Bresse until 21 September 2014.
PRESS CONTACT AT THE FINE ARTS MUSEUM OF LYON
Sylvaine Manuel de Condinguy
Tel: +33 (0)4 72 10 41 15.
Email: [email protected]
www.mba-lyon.fr
THE EXHIBITION
Before the 19th century, historical events of the Middle Ages,
the Renaissance and 17th century were seldom depicted by artists.
However, the rediscovery of this ‘national’ history would lead to
a veritable cultural and artistic upheaval during the first half of
the 19th century.
Artists developed a passion for these new subjects from the past that
broke with classical tradition and the hierarchy of genres*. They created
more naturalist, living, colourful and picturesque compositions that
provoked strong emotions in viewers. Painters and sculptors carried
out detailed historiographic and plastic arts research that helped them
to conceptualise these works. They also relied upon numerous artistic
references from past centuries and, along with historians, writers and
figures from the world of stagecraft who were motivated by the same
acute interest in these periods, established a highly fruitful dialogue
between the arts during the era of Romanticism.
These works enjoyed wide success among collectors and public alike
and they benefitted from a widespread reputation, notably thanks to
the medium of print. They remain as a strong presence in the collective
imagination of today and have become subconscious references to our
conception of the past.
2
This exhibition brings together for the first time the testimony of this
artistic and cultural phenomenon as it unfolded in France and Europe.
* The hierarchy of genres was established in the 17th century. It consists of the classification
of paintings according to subject. At the top of this hierarchy was historical painting, often
in large format. It was also called the Grand Genre and it included subjects from classical
history, mythology and the Bible. The next category was portraits, which were genre scenes
of everyday life, landscapes and still life, and it was generally painted in small format.
VALENTINE DE MILAN.
BIRTH OF A GENRE
1
In 1802, Fleury Richard, a young and hitherto
unknown painter from Lyon who was formed
in the studio of Jacques Louis David, met
with immense success when he exhibited a
painting that appeared to be of a new genre.
This work was Valentine de Milan mourning the
death of her husband, Louis of Orléans, who
was assassinated in 1407 by John, the Duke
of Burgundy.
Both critics and the public praised his
choice of this previously neglected subject
from the medieval past. The artist’s choice
was inspired by his visits to the Musée des
Monuments Français, which had been created
by Alexandre Lenoir.
Fleury Richard (1777-1852)
Valentine de Milan mourning the death of her husband,
Louis of Orléans, who was assassinated in 1407 by John,
the Duke of Burgundy
1802
Oil on canvas
Saint-Pétersbourg, musée de l ’Ermitage
© The State Hermitage museum / Leonard Kheifets, Alexander Koksharov
Valentine de Milan (1366-1408) was the
daughter of Duke Jean Galéas Visconti
and Isabelle de France. She became
the Duchess of Orléans in 1389 after
marrying Louis the First, the younger
brother of Charles IV, King of France.
In 1392, the king’s insanity resulted in
the Duke of Orléans participating in a
Royal Regency Council meeting in the
context of the power battle which led
his cousin, Jean the Fearless, to order his
assassination in 1407. After his murder,
Valentine de Milan demanded that justice
be done until she died of grief less than a
year later. The work was a major success
at the 1802 Salon and joined the art
collection of Empress Joséphine three
years later.
Richard was inspired in his efforts to bring
together the works seized from Parisian
churches during the Revolution by the
ornamental recumbent statue on the tomb of
Valentine Visconti, the Duchess of Orléans,
which fascinated him. He would sketch the
statue in his notebooks, and this inspiration
was enhanced by his motto – “Rien ne m’est
plus. Plus rien ne m’est”. Numerous studies that
were preserved in his studio collections allow
us to follow his creative development and
reveal how the artist gave life to this figure,
who is placed at the heart of this poetic and
melancholic scene.
The medieval architecture and the diffused
light from a stained-glass window with a
partially closed green taffeta curtain are the
key elements of the painting’s success. They
are also to be found in his more contemporary
works, and notably in ‘The Artist’s Studio’, which
is an auto portrait set in an imaginary studio
that appears as an artistic programme.
* The Salon was an exhibition in Paris that was dedicated
to the works of living painters, sculptors, engravers and
architects. Presented at irregular intervals at first, it became
a yearly event from 1833.
3
THE
‘TROUBADORS’
AND THE
‘ANECDOTIC GENRE’
2
The success of Fleury Richard inspired
his contemporaries, who also began to
become interested in the historical events
of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and
the 17th century. This resulted in numerous
such works being exhibited as Parisian Salons
during the Empire (1804-1814) and the
Restoration (1814-1830).
Fleury Richard (1777-1852)
Francis 1 shows his sister, Marguerite of Navarro,
the lines he has just etched on a windwn pane with
his diamond
1804
Oil on panel
Arenenberg, musée Napoléon Thurgovie
4
© Napoleon Museum, Thurgovie/Daniel Steine
The scene occurs at the Château of
Chambord where King Francis I, known
for his penchant for female conquests
and affairs, has engraved an ironic
inscription on a window – “Souvent femme
varie. Bien fol est qui s’y fie.” Amused, he
shows the inscription to his sister, Queen
Marguerite of Navarro.
This anecdote served first and foremost
as the pretext for a reconstitution of
a Renaissance interior in which the
furniture and glass panes are depicted in
high detail. The artist looked for sources
in order to paint his figures. He was
inspired by known portraits of the king,
particularly one painted by Titian, and
found his model for the female figure
in paintings by Leonardo da Vinci at
The Louvre.
Nevertheless they did not choose to depict
major historical events, as was the case for
Neoclassicism. On the contrary, they preferred
to use anecdotes from the lives
of great historical figures.
Princes and princesses, military heroes, artists
and writers; they all provide a more intimate
historical viewpoint. The scenes show a
propensity for detail as well as a smooth
aspect and quality workmanship that can also
be seen in Dutch 17th century painting. Most
of the works are in smaller formats and were
created for a clientele of art lovers. Many were
sold to famous personalities such as Empress
Joséphine, her children Queen Hortensia and
Prince Eugène, and, later, the Duchess of Berry,
the daughter-in-law of King Charles X, thus
increasing the success of this new art form.
Despite all the popular success, which was
reinforced by printed reproductions of these
works and even their reproduction on objects,
the critics held mixed opinions. According
to some of them, works about secondary
historical events and in restricted formats
could not be considered as being as worthy
as more classical historical paintings. They
thus became a new and intermediate category
between history and genre painting called the
Anecdotic Genre. This name was subsequently
changed to Troubadors, in reference to an
imaginary Middle Ages.
An unknown horseman defeated all his
opponents during a jousting tournament
in 1337, but one of them managed to lift
the visor of his helmet. The rider turned
out to be Bertrand du Guesclin (C.A.
1320-1380), a young nobleman from
Brittany whose father had forbidden him
from participating in the tournament. Du
Guesclin would become a major figure
during the Hundred Years War, during
which he commanded the royal army
with the rank of Supreme Commander
of France. This painting is one of the
most complete and almost archeological
reconstitutions of the past by Révoil.
The work was inspired by illuminative
medieval manuscripts and objects from
his collection, such as the oliphant into
which a herald is blowing a call to arms.
It was made in Italy at the end of the
11th century.
Pierre Révoil
The Tournament
1812
Oil on canvas
Lyon, musée des Beaux-Arts
© Lyon MBA - Photo Alain Basset
PIERRE RÉVOIL,
PAINTER AND ANTIQUE
COLLECTOR
3
From Lyon, as was his friend Fleury Richard, Pierre Révoil was one of
the first artists to collect art objects from the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance and use them as models for their works.
This collection, which comprises armour, furniture, ivory and fabrics,
is one of the first to be almost exclusively composed of objects from
these eras. Highly reputed at the time, it was compiled in Lyon, where
it was a source of inspiration for the artist and his students at the Fine
Arts School before being acquired by The Louvre in 1828. Révoil’s
attempts to reconstitute history were characterised by a marked sense
of detail that led to the accumulation of many objects, in the manner
of an archeologist. The Convalescence of Bayard, for example, brought
together a French armour from the second half of the 16th century and
a 13th century gold-plated Italian triptych.
This meticulous approach was quickly pounced upon by critics, Révoil’s
work did not enjoy the success of Richard’s approach, and Révoil
subsequently fell out with him. Nevertheless, Révoil’s erudite research
and quest for detail meant that his work represented one of the most
comprehensive attempts to restitute the spirit of those eras. An example
of this was when he recreated the subtle lighting effects of the Middle
Ages with The Tournament and inspired himself directly from a painted
14th century manuscript that exalted the spirit of chivalry.
5
INGRES
4
Formed in Paris in David’s studio at the same
time as Richard and Révoil, Jean Auguste
Dominique Ingres was aware of their new
approaches and their success, and began to
paint similar themes but in a different spirit.
Although the artist found his inspiration in
the events of the Middle Ages and in the life
of Henry IV, who he also painted in smaller
formats, he nevertheless refused to adopt the
methods of archeological reconstitution and
anecdotic detail. Confronting works by Coupin
de la Couperie and Ingres that both showed
the kiss of Paolo and Francesca offers a stark
demonstration of this change.
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)
Paolo and Francesca
1819
Oil on canvas
Angers, musée des Beaux-Arts
© Musées d’Angers, cliché Pierre David
6
The subject of this painting was
inspired by Chant 5 of Hell, by the
Italian writer Dante. Ingres illustrates
the key moment in it when Francesca,
in the company of Paolo Malatesta,
the younger brother of her husband
Gianciotto, a 13th century lord from
Rimini, is reading the adventure book
written by Lancelot of the Lake. Whilst
reading the story of Lancelot’s love
for Queen Guenièvre, Francesca and
Paolo realised that they shared similar
sentiments and kissed each other, and
it is at that moment that the jealous
husband sees them. Drawing his sword,
he prepares to kill them.
Ingres had already painted a similar
composition on this subject, in 1814,
after which he painted several other
variations on the theme that differed
greatly in the degree of detail he used,
most notably in this example, which
features a Neo-Gothic frame designed
by Claude Aimé Chevanard.
Ingres strived above all to express the same
preoccupations with visual arts that were
present in his work as a whole, whether it
involved large historical paintings, nudes or
portraits. His concentration on aspects of line
is dominant, and the subjects are taken out
of naturalist representation in order that they
conform to the beauty of formal exercises that
would sometimes deform their bodies. These
historical scenes, which constitute a major part
of his body of work, were not understood by
the public and critics, who reproached Ingres
for their unreality.
These works, which were destined for a public
of art lovers because of their format, are
remarkable for their very bright colours. They
also offer a re-reading of the art of the past
masters they referred to. This was notably the
case for The Aretino and the envoy of Charles
Quint, which was recently acquired by the Fine
Arts Museum of Lyon.
André Félibien relates in his Vies des
Peintres that Emperor Charles Quint is
said to have visited the painter Titien
in Bologna in 1533 to ask him to paint
his portrait. Titien was very nervous in
the presence of this illustrious model
however and he inadvertently dropped
his brush, whereupon the emperor bent
down, picked it up, and handed it back to
him. This apparently apocryphal episode
illustrates how much respect the rich
and powerful had for artists, and they
would not hesitate to pay tribute to their
talent. This would explain why Bergeret
emphasised the grateful recognition
that he insisted should be afforded to
society’s creators.
Pierre Nolasque Bergeret (1782-1863)
Charles Quint picking up Titien’s paintbrush
1808
Oil on canvas
Bordeaux, musée des Beaux-Arts
© Musée des Beaux-Arts-mairie de Bordeaux. Cliché L .Gauthier
THE LIVES
OF ARTISTS
5
Among those subjects that were privileged by artists, the illustration
of episodes from the lives of past masters was a genre in itself
that enjoyed uninterrupted success during the first half of the
19th century.
These anecdotes, which have more in common with legend than
historical reality, were taken from both old and contemporary accounts.
The first of them – the lives of the most celebrated painters, sculptors
and architects – by Giorgio Vasari in 1550, has been reedited numerous
times over the years and translated into French. Contemporary writers
such as Stendhal, with his history of painting in Italy, have subsequently
kept this literary genre alive.
The evocation of artists from the past offers us an opportunity to
celebrate their art, but it has also led to their eminent stature being
acknowledged. They appear as the equals of princes, particularly when
painted by Pierre Nolasque Bergeret, who initiated this genre. Raphaël
received visits from all the powerful men and great thinkers of his time
before he died, and Emperor Charles Quint picked up Titian’s paintbrush
for him after he had dropped it on the floor by inadvertence. The innate
genius of artists was praised, and they were said to have had exceptional
capacities even when they were children. The young shepherd Giotto
was discovered as a result of this belief whilst drawing sheep in the
countryside of Tuscany. That would be the prelude to his glorious future
as a painter.
7
The event depicted in this painting was
taken from Les Quatre Stuarts, a work
by Chateaubriand. After the execution
of Charles 1 of England in 1649 that
followed his overthrow in a civil war,
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) lifted the
lid to his coffin to contemplate his body.
For visitors to the 1831 Salon who saw
this painting, this kind of work evoked the
French Revolution and the execution of
Louis XVI.
Recent discoveries have established that
Delaroche knew English art of that time
very well and that this knowledge led
him to begin major research that centred
upon the iconography of Cromwell. He
was most notably helped by studies
of costumes, and more particularly
of boots, that had been carried out in
English châteaux by James Ward, an artist
he knew.
Paul Delaroche (1797-1856)
Cromwell and Charles 11831
Oil on canvas
Nîmes, musée des Beaux-Arts
© Photo: Florent Gardin
PAUL DELAROCHE
6
8
At a time in the 1820s when the success of Troubador painters was in
decline, new research was to radically change the representation of
history. It was led by the painter Paul Delaroche, who became a major
figure in the world of artistic creation of his time.
Delaroche exposed An ailing Joan of Arc is interrogated in prison by the
Cardinal of Winchester at the Paris Salon in 1824. This work marked the
point where Delaroche abandoned the practices of his predecessors.
Although this subject had already been addressed by Révoil and Ducis,
Delaroche dispensed with their practice of using small-sized paintings and
adopted large and ambitious formats instead that corresponded to the
dimensions of the greatest forms of historical painting. He also introduced
effects that were used in contemporary theatre, such as tightly focused
compositions and highly expressive gestures.
This new research reflected the European success being enjoyed by the
books of Scottish writer Walter Scott. They were appreciated for their
vivid and ‘local colour’ descriptions of the past and they also had an effect
upon the works of historians. Prosper de Barante, François Guizot as well
as August and Amédée Thierry changed the way historical research was
written by writing works that were based on research into sources and
memoires from the past. The works of Delaroche were strongly influenced
by the history of Great Britain and he had detailed knowledge about the
art forms that were used to represent national history at the end of the
18th century and that they often took the form of engravings.
The historical paintings of Dela­roche were immensely appreciated by his
contemporaries. They included works such as Cromwell and Charles 1,
The Princes in the Tower, and The Assassination of the Duke of Guise.
Exhibited at the 1831 Salon in Paris, this
painting took its inspiration from a scene
in Shakespeare’s Richard III. Following the
death of Edward IV of England, his eldest
son and heir to the throne was expected
to become king. But his uncle, the
ambitious Richard, Duke of Gloucester,
plotted to stop him being crowned.
He had the young prince and his even
younger brother imprisoned in the Tower
of London, where both of them were
subsequently assassinated.
The moment captured by the artist came
just before their death as the princes,
realising what was to happen, cling to
each other. The ray of light under the
door and the dog with its ears pricked up
herald the imminent arrival of visitors
who may well be their executioners.
Paul Delaroche (1797-1856)
King Edward V and the Duke of York in the Tower of London
1830
Oil on canvas
Paris, musée du Louvre, département des peintures
© Rmn-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / René-Gabriel Ojéda
CONCERNING THE PAINTING OF
THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER
7
The success of Paul Delaroche’s works was accrued when they
became available in the form of engravings that would lead to his
works becoming known over all of Europe.
The artist agreed a contract of exclusivity with engraving dealer and editor
Adolphe Goupil, who began to exhibit the works of Delaroche in major
European cities. He also worked with the best engravers of the time, such
as Louis Pierre Henriquel-Dupont and Paolo Mercuri, who reproduced
Delaroche’s best-known works. This strategy had never been used before
and it resulted in The Princes in the Tower and The Execution of Lady Jane
Grey being seen in numerous homes. At the same time an international
clientele consisting not only of French and English buyers but also buyers
from Germany and Russia was also acquiring Delaroche reproductions.
The works of Delaroche thus became models of the genre that were often
referred to by his contemporaries. The subject – taken from Shakespeare
– of the two sons of King Edward VI of England who were locked up in
the Tower of London by their uncle, the future Richard III, was particularly
successful and was copied by numerous artists in Continental Europe.
Others, such as Claudius Jacquard and the Dutch artist Simon Opzoomer,
would later take up the theme of The Princes in the Tower and adapt it to
different subjects.
9
DELACROIX /
BONINGTON.
AN ARTISTIC
DIALOGUE
8
In parallel to the creations of Delaroche,
Eugène Delacroix and the English artist
Richard Parkes Bonington, both of whom were
major Romanticists, became interested in the
1820s in the representation of the Middle
Ages and the modern era.
They met in 1825 and shared the same studio
for a while, and their shared tastes led to them
becoming friends. Their paintings established
a veritable joint dialogue until Bonington’s
premature death in 1828.
10
Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)
Louis of Orleans reveals his mistress
1825 -1826
Oil on canvas
Madrid, museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
© Museo thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid.
This anecdote is taken from ‘L’Histoire des
Ducs de Bourgogne’ by Prosper de Barante.
Duke Louis 1 of Orléans (1372-1407), who
greatly enjoyed the company of women,
wanted to play a trick on his chamberlain,
Aubert le Flamenc, whose wife Mariette
d’Enghien had become the duke’s
mistress. The duke revealed a naked
woman with her face hidden and asked
him to judge her beauty, but Aubert did
not recognise her even though she was in
fact his wife.
Delacroix situated this scene in an
imaginary Middle Ages and recreated the
spirit of that era rather than painting it
in detail. He used a rich palette to create
luxurious fabrics in order to reinforce the
eroticism of the work.
Delacroix would only rarely address the
themes he and Bonington had shared after
the latter’s death.
They wanted their approach to be
fundamentally different to those of their
contemporaries and it had nothing in common
with the work of the Troubadors except the
use of smaller formats and, occasionally,
similar subjects. History imposed itself upon
their work via the prism of literature, resulting
in small-sized oil paintings or aquarelles that
were characterised by a liberated style and
sumptuous colours. Bonington and Delacroix
eschewed representations of the past for
freedom of imagination and references to
Venetian painters and Rubens, who they
greatly admired.
Delacroix was critical of the historical paintings
by the artists of his time. He considered
Delaroche’s success with Cromwell and Charles 1
in 1831 to be nonsensical and this inspired
him to paint an aquarelle depicting his own
interpretation of the scene.
THE ERA OF THE
‘HISTORICAL GENRE’
9
A new generation of artists joined Paul
Delaroche in the 1830s and 1840s to
establish this highly successful manner
of expressing history in large formats.
However – and as had been the case for
Troubador painters at the beginning of the
century – the critics were unsettled by these
subjects, ‘borrowed’ as they were from modern
history. They were also unhappy with this new
way of recreating the past because, they said,
it did not conform to the grand traditions of
painting history. It was deemed that a new term
was needed to describe it and the name chosen
was ‘Historical Genre’. This genre included Paul
Delaroche and those of his contemporaries
who adhered to his formulas.
Eugène Devéria (1805-1865)
Mary Queen of Scots Receiving her Death Sentence
1826
Oil on canvas
Angers, musée des Beaux-Arts
© musées d ’Angers, cliché Pierre David
Historical Genre works corresponded to the
tastes of European collectors and it was
also helped by state commissions for works
to celebrate France’s national history. In
the 1830s, the aim of a project designed to
decorate the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre
Palace was to evoke the palace’s finest hours,
from its construction to the accession of King
Louis-Philippe. Three paintings, by Alexandre
Colin, Gillot-Saint Èvre and Alexandre Hesse,
were chosen to hang in the palace. In 1833,
the king created a historical museum at the
Château of Versailles to celebrate “all the
glories of France”. He wished to federate the
people of France around a national past that
reconciled all political opinion, from Clovis
to The Revolution of 1830 which had swept
him into power. Numerous commissions were
granted to artists for this project in order
to illustrate the great moments and figures
of French history.
11
RECREATING
THE PAST
10
The evocation of the past saw artists
becoming interested in the costumes, objects
and accessories of the eras that also provided
the subject matter for the scenic arts of
that period.
Théodore Gechter (1796-1844)
Richard of Warwick fighting
1844
Bronze
Blois, musée du château
© Photo RMN-GP - René-Gabriel Ojéda
12
The contemporary publishing of illustrated
books about collections of engravings such as
those of Nicolas Xavier and Camille Bonnard
represented repertories of models for painters
and sculptors, and they did not hesitate to
consult various written works and engravings at
the National Library. Museum visits, particularly
visits to The Louvre and to the Army Museum
with its collections of weapons and armour,
were also an important source of inspiration.
When Fleury Richard began a work on Queen
Mathilda, the wife of William the Conqueror,
he studied the engravings that were depicted
on the Bayeux Tapestry, which was at The
Louvre at that time. He also asked Pierre Révoil
to send him his drawings of details from the
same tapestry.
The question of how best to represent the
past was also being considered by the world
of theatre in the form of the costumes worn in
romantic drama productions, and painters were
asked to share their knowledge of them. They
included Louis Boulanger and Paul Delaroche,
who collaborated with Alexandre Dumas, Victor
Hugo and Casimir Delavigne. This trend also
manifested itself at celebratory events, and so it
was that in 1829 the Duchess of Berry organised
a ball that is remembered as the ‘Quadrille of
Mary Stuart’, during which each invitee dressed
as a figure from the court of French king
François II in costumes that had been specially
designed by Eugène Lami and were based on
the Renaissance period.
Stanczyk (C.A. 1480-1560) was the
court jester for Polish king Sigismond 1.
Known for his lively wit and his lucid
premonitions about the destiny of his
country, Stanczyk became a symbolic
figure of 19th century national culture
in art and literature. This painting by
Matejko was one of the first works to
represent him and it contributed to the
construction of Polish identity. Stanczyk
was present at a ball given by the queen in
1514 to celebrate the victory of the Polish
armies in Orsza over the troops of the
principality of Moscow. But at the same
time the loss of the town of Smolensk
was very bad news that augured badly
for the future of the country. Stanczyk
seemed to be the only one who could see
this future coming whilst the court went
about its more lighthearted affairs.
Jan Matejko (1838-1893)
Stanczyk
1862
Oil on canvas
Varsovie, muzeum Narodowe
© Ligier Piotr/ Narodowew Museum – Warsaw
A TASTE OF EUROPE
11
The artistic preference for representations of national history and
the various forms and techniques that characterised works by French
artists during the first half of the 19th century would quickly meet
with considerable success beyond the frontiers of France.
Paris became a destination of choice for foreign artists, who went there
to complete their apprenticeships in the most reputable studios. The
city offered young painters the possibility of discovering contemporary
creations at the Salon, the Luxembourg Museum, which was dedicated
to presenting the work of living artists, and the historical museum at
Versailles. Also, French paintings became much better known from the
1830s onwards thanks to engravings.
This pronounced taste for history and the national past was echoed
across the whole of the European Continent at the time of the
affirmation of national identities and cultures. Recently created countries
such as Belgium, which gained independence in 1830, strove to affirm
their existence via the arts. To celebrate independence, the young state
commissioned a number of works by artists such as Louis Gaillat and
Édouard de Biefve. At the same time those peoples who did not have
independence, such as the Poles, whose country had been divided up in
1795 between Russia, Austria and Prussia, also found painting to be an
ideal means of expressing and defending their cultures and histories, as
demonstrated by Jan Matejko.
For Belgium, Germany and Central Europe, the Historical Genre model
– and the work of Delaroche in particular – became the model of
reference, offering as it did naturalist and vividly coloured paintings
that corresponded to the sensibilities of the time. Thus it was that the
Historical Genre was defined as being a veritable international genre in
around 1850.
13
Sir William Allan (1782-1850)
The murder of David Rizzio
1833
Oil on canvas
Edimbourg, Scottish National Gallery
The murder of courtier David Rizzio
(1533-1566) was one of the most sadly
famous episodes of the reign of Mary
Stuart (1542-1587). Considered to be
much too close a confidant to the
Queen, he was assassinated before
her in her chambers at the Palace of
Holyrood House in Edinburgh while
she was expecting the baby who would
become James VI of Scotland (James
1 of England). Among the assassins, a
band of rebel Protestants led by Patrick,
Lord Ruthven, was Lord Henry Darnley,
her own husband, who can be seen
restraining her.
This choice of subject from Scottish
history was partly influenced by the
novels of Walter Scott. The artist also
studied armour from that period as well
as portraits of certain of those who were
present at the scene. The chambers
of Mary Stuart were represented as
accurately as possible.
© Scottish National Gallery
ENGLAND
AND SCOTLAND
14
Although the craze for illustrating the past originated in Europe, both
countries had developed their own forms of representation that were
linked to their own artistic, historical, cultural and social contexts.
Great Britain used highly original models despite the fact that they
included elements of French art.
Starting from the second half of the 18th century, artists became interested
in episodes from history in the context of private commissions, which
came from sources such as the Shakespeare Gallery that was created by
the engravings editor John Boydell and the paintings commissioned by the
painter and publisher Robert Bowyer to illustrate an edition of the history
of England, by David Hume.
But although interest in this art form remained strong in Scotland, where
Mary Stuart had been elevated to the status of a founding heroine, it
began to wane in England during the first half of the 19th century, a period
during which landscapes and the scène de genre were adopted as the
pictorial modes par excellence. It would not be before the 1850s that a
new generation of artists who had been marked by the examples of French
artists began the task of reviving it. This revival led to Augustus Egg’s
The Night Before Naseby, which was reminiscent of Delaroche’s Cromwell
and Charles 1, that the artist had recently seen a copy of in London. A
group of seven young painters then formed, calling themselves ‘The St
John’s Wood Clique’, from the name of the area of London in which they
lived. They offered a renewed vision of history in the style of William
Frederick Yeames.
ITALY
The political ties linking Italy to France under
the Empire and the voyages undertaken by
French artists facilitated Italy’s awareness
of representational models of history at the
beginning of the 19th century.
Ingres resided in Rome and Florence for many
years, and Italian artists soon began to discover
the work of the Troubador painters. It is for
this reason that Italy began to witness the
emergence of a pictorial current that privileged
the representation of the national past starting
from the 1810s.
Gabriele Castagnola (1828-1883)
Filippo Lippi and Lucrezia Buti
1871
Oil on canvas
Private collection
© Christies’ images/the Bridgeman Art Library
The Florentine painter Filippo Lippi (14571504) was one of the artists who began
the Renaissance movement in Italy, and
he led a particularly Romanesque life
according to books that were written
about him. Although Lippi was a monk
at the beginning of his artistic career,
he fell in love with one of his models,
Lucrezia Buti, a young novice in a religious
order, and they subsequently ran away
together. The scene chosen here by
Castagnola shows their forbidden kiss in
a setting that evoked a church containing
numerous works of art.
The two major protagonists of this Historical
Romanticism, as it was called, were Pelagio
Palagi and Francesco Hayez. Palagi’s method
was characterised by research into old historical
sources and the desire to reconstitute the past.
The works of Hayez on the other hand, adopted
a more political aspect that was dictated by his
choice of subjects. They reflected a budding
movement towards national unity, and his work
displayed a unique ardour and a novel form of
theatricality. This trend towards depicting the
past enjoyed wide success that continued until
the 1860s.
15
Eduardo Rosales (1836-1873)
Don Juan of Austria introduced to Emperor Charles Quint
to Yuste
1869
Oil on canvas
Madrid, museo Nacional del Prado
SPAIN
© Museo nacional del Prado/Dist. Rmn Grand Palais / image du Prado
16
After his abdication in 1556, the
Emperor Charles Quint retired to the
monastery of Yuste, Spain, where he
would spend the rest of his life. Once
there, he asked to meet his illegitimate
son and majordomo for a nobleman,
Don Juan of Austria (1545-1578), and
the young man would go on to have a
brilliant military destiny during which
he commanded the victorious fleet
of the Ottoman armies at the Battle
of Lepant in 1571. The artist used the
example of The Assassination of the
Duke of Guise by Delaroche to help
him to coordinate the composition
of his work. He associated this model
with references from collections at
the Prado Museum and Spanish artists,
Greco in particular.
Spanish painting at the beginning of the
19th century was strongly influenced by
Francesco de Goya, whose style persuaded
many other artists to try and imitate him.
However, French art then began to offer the
possibility of another model and this resulted
in a comprehensive and formal renewal.
The first painter to undergo this mutation was
Federico de Madrazo, who went to Paris in
1833 to finish his apprenticeship. His perfect
knowledge of French art permitted him to
propose a rereading of episodes in Spanish
national history that combined the recreation
of the past based on the Historical Genre and
references to national traditions. This is why he
chose the subject matter in Gonzalve de Cordoue
crosses the Battlefield of Cérignole, which was
inspired by a drawing by Paul Delaroche and the
composition of The Surrender of Breda, which was
painted by Diego Velàsquez in 1635.
Artists of the following generation in the
1860s continued to use this dual reference that
combined naturalism, colour and the technical
freedom of Velàzquez, who was by then a grand
master of Spanish art, and the use of French
models. Eduardo Rosales was a major figure of
this new manner of depicting history.
Jean Paul Laurens (1838-1921)
The Hostages
1896
Oil on canvas
Lyon, musée des Beaux-Arts
© Lyon MBA/Photo: Alain Basset
THE END OF THE STORY
12
The 1850s saw a decline in the fortunes of the ‘Historical Genre’ in
France and the death of its principal exponents.
Paul Delaroche died in 1856 and a posthumous exhibition of his work
was organised at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. An excellent
catalogue of his work was also published. This catalogue was the first
to be illustrated using photographic reproductions.
Nevertheless, the various presentation formulas that were used during
the first half of the 19th century to illustrate past history continued
to influence the art of future generations, mainly because of the
perpetuation of their impact in Europe but also because of the heritage
it bequeathed to younger artists. One of them was Jean Léon Gérôme,
who revived Delaroche with The reception of the Grand Condé by
Louis XIV, a work of great emotion. Later still, Jean Paul Laurens used
certain elements of Historical Genre in his work and The Hostages is
reminiscent of Delaroche’s The Princes in the Tower, thus demonstrating
that the latter’s work had been consigned to posterity.
Despite the fact that the tradition of reproducing historical events
disappeared at the end of the century, the early days of cinema
perpetuated it. Indeed, one of the first scripted films, in 1908, related
the assassination of the Duke of Guise and the final sequence featured a
living tableau that used the themes of composition that Delaroche had
used for the same subject.
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THE INVENTION OF
THE PAST - DRAWINGS
BY FLEURY RICHARD
SALLE DES PASTELS
The acquisition in 1988 by the Fine Arts
Museum of Lyon of the studio collections of
the Lyonnais painter Fleury Richard that had
been conserved by his descendants offered
the exceptional possibility of revealing the
creative processes of the artist to the public.
Parallel to The Invention of the Past. Tales
of heart and sword in Europe – 1802-1850
a selection of drawings is being exhibited
simultaneously. The exhibition contains
selected drawings from the almost six
hundred works in his studio collection.
18
Fleury Richard (1777-1852)
Study for The Return of Louis de la Trémoille
to 1824
Sanguine on paper
Lyon, musée des Beaux-Arts
© Lyon MBA - Photo Alain Basset
These studies reveal the artist’s preference
for episodes from the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance period. Although François 1 is
Benighted by Bayard demonstrates his interest
in France’s past, Richard also illustrated
episodes from the history of Great Britain, as
can be seen in a recently identified sketch –
The Ring of the Count of Essex – even if it did
not result in a painting.
A series of three sketches allows us to follow
the creative process of one of the paintings
in the exhibition, The Return of Louis de la
Trémoille, and they show the variations on the
theme that he considered before settling on
the final version. Finally, three overlay tracings
can be seen at the Invention du Passé. Gothique,
mon amour... exhibition that correspond to
a work from the collections of the Royal
Monastery of Brou in Bourg-en-Bresse –
La Mort du prince de Talmont.
USEFUL
INFORMATION
TARIFFS
Exhibition: €9/ €6 /Free Entry
Exhibition and Collections: €12/ €7/Free Entry
Late Opening: €5/Free Entry
OPENING TIMES
Open from 10am to 6pm every day except
Tuesdays and Bank Holidays, and from 10.30am
to 6pm on Fridays
Late Opening: from 6pm to 10pm on Friday
May 2 and Friday June 6 2014
Press material available
Please contact us to obtain access codes to our
press section
PRESS CONTACT
Sylvaine Manuel de Condinguy
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
20, Place des Terreaux, 69001 Lyon
[email protected]
Tel: +33 (0)4 72 10 41 15
MUSÉE DES BEAUX-ARTS DE LYON
20, Place des Terreaux, 69001, Lyon
Tel: +33 (0)4 72 10 17 40
19
The exhibition L’Invention du
Passé. Gothique, mon amour…
1802-1830 is hosted by the Royal
Monastery of Brou in Bourg-enBresse, until September 21 2014.
Buy your tickets in advance at
www.mba-lyon.fr
This exhibition has been
recognised as being of
national interest by the
Ministry of Culture and
Communication/Direction
des Musées de France, and
it receives exceptional state
financial support.
Pierre Révoil, Le Tournoi, 1812 (detail) © Lyon MBA / Alain Basset / FormaBoom Graphic Design