View source for Ary Scheffer


{{Short description|Dutch-French  painter (1795–1858)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Ary Scheffer
| image         = Ary Scheffer Self-portrait Rijksmuseum SK A 4748.jpg
| caption       = ''Self Portrait at the age of 43'', {{Circa|1838}}
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    = {{birth date |1795|2|10|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Dordrecht]], Netherlands
| death_date    = {{death date and age |1858|6|15|1795|2|10|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Argenteuil]], France
| nationality   = Dutch, French
| field         = [[Painting]]
| training      = 
| movement      = [[Romanticism]]
| works         = 
| patrons       = 
| influenced by = 
| influenced    = 
| awards        = 
}}
'''Ary Scheffer''' (10 February 1795{{snd}}15 June 1858) was a Dutch-French [[Romanticism|Romantic]] painter.<ref>{{Cite Nuttall|title=Scheffer, Ary}}</ref> He was known mostly for his works based on literature, with paintings based on the works of [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]], [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]], [[Lord Byron]] and [[Walter Scott]],<ref name = "Macmillan2023">[[Duncan Macmillan (art historian)|Macmillan, Duncan]] (2023), ''Scotland and the Origins of Modern Art'', [[Lund Humphries]], London, pp. 167 - 182, {{isbn|978-1-84822-633-3}}</ref> as well as religious subjects. He was also a prolific painter of portraits of famous and influential people in his lifetime. Politically, Scheffer had strong ties to King [[Louis Philippe&nbsp;I]], having been employed as a teacher of the latter's children, which allowed him to live a life of luxury for many years until the [[French Revolution of 1848]].

==Early life and education==
[[File:Dordrecht beeld Scheffer2-1.jpg|thumb|Statue of Scheffer on the ''Scheffersplein'' in [[Dordrecht]], made by Joseph Mezzara after a design by Scheffer's daughter, Cornelia]]
[[File:Musee Vie romantique.jpg|thumb|Scheffer's house in [[Paris]], now the [[Musée de la Vie romantique]]]]
Scheffer was the son of [[Johan Bernard Scheffer]] (1765–1809), a portrait painter who was born in [[Homberg (Ohm)|Homberg upon Ohm]] or [[Kassel|Cassel]] (both presently in [[Germany]]; the latter has been spelled as Kassel since 1926) and moved to the [[Netherlands]] in his youth, and [[Cornelia Lamme]] (1769–1839), a [[portrait miniature]] painter and daughter of landscape painter [[Arie Lamme]] of [[Dordrecht]], for whom Arij (later "Ary") was named. Ary Scheffer had two brothers, the journalist and writer Karel Arnold Scheffer (1796–1853) and the painter [[Hendrik Scheffer]] (1798–1862). His parents educated him and he attended the drawing academy in [[Amsterdam]] from the age of 11 years. In 1808 his father became the court painter of [[Louis Bonaparte]] in [[Amsterdam]], yet his father died one year later. Encouraged by [[Willem Bilderdijk]], Ary moved to [[Lille]], [[France]], for further study after the death of his father. 

In 1811, he and his mother, who greatly influenced his career, moved to [[Paris]], [[France]], where he studied at the [[École des Beaux-Arts]] as a pupil of [[Pierre-Narcisse Guérin]]. His brothers later followed them to [[Paris]].<ref name=bdn>[http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/bwn1880-2000/lemmata/bwn4/scheffa Scheffer, Arij (1795–1858)] in the Biographical Dictionary of the Netherlands: 1880–2000 (in Dutch)</ref>

==Career==
Scheffer started exhibiting at the [[Salon de Paris]] in 1812. He began to be recognized in 1817, and in 1819 he was asked to make a portrait of the [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|Marquis de Lafayette]]. Perhaps because of Lafayette's acquaintances, Scheffer and his brothers were politically active throughout their lives and he became a prominent [[Philhellenism|Philhellene]].<ref name=bdn/>

In 1822, he became drawing teacher to the children of [[Louis Philippe I]], the [[House of Orléans|Duke of Orléans]]. Because of his connection with them, he obtained many commissions for portraiture and other work. In 1830 riots against the rule of King [[Charles X of France|Charles X]] resulted in [[July Revolution|his overthrow]]. On 30 July, Scheffer and influential journalist [[Adolphe Thiers]] rode from [[Paris]] to [[Orléans]] to ask [[Louis Philippe I]] to lead the resistance, and a few days later he became "[[July Monarchy|King of the French]]".<ref name=bdn/>

That same year, Scheffer's daughter [[Cornélia Scheffer|Cornélia]] was born. Francès Cornélia Scheffer (1830–1899) became a sculptor and painter in her own right.<ref>[http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/CorneliaScheffer Scheffer, Cornelia (1830–1899)] in the Biographical Dictionary of the Netherlands: 1880–2000 (in Dutch)</ref> Ary Scheffer registered the name of her mother as "Maria Johanna de Nes", but nothing is known of her and she may have died soon after Cornélia's birth. Considering that his grandmother's name was "Johanna de Nes", it has been speculated that he kept the name of Cornélia's mother secret so as not to compromise the reputation of a noble family. Ary Scheffer's mother did not know of her namesake granddaughter until 1837, after which she cared for Cornélia until she died only two years later.<ref name=bdn/> 

Ary Scheffer became an associate member of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences|Royal Institute of the Netherlands]] in 1846, and resigned in 1851.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00002794 |title=A. Scheffer (1795–1858) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=17 July 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Portret van Cornelia Scheffer met hond Turc, geschilderd door haar vader Ary Scheffer.jpg|thumb|Portrait of his daughter Cornelia together with Turc the dog]] Scheffer and his family prospered during the reign of [[Louis Philippe I]], who abdicated on 24 February 1848. Scheffer and Hendrik were inundated with artistic commissions, and they taught numerous students in their workshop in [[Paris]], so many that of the works produced during this period that bear his signature the number that he actually made himself cannot be verified.<ref name="bdn"/>

Scheffer was elevated as commander of the [[Legion of Honour]] in 1848. As a captain of the [[Garde Nationale]], he escorted the French royal family in its escape from the [[Tuileries]] and escorted the [[Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin|Duchess d'Orléans]] to the [[Chambre des Députés]], where she in vain proposed her son as the next monarch of [[France]]. Scheffer fought in the army of [[Louis-Eugène Cavaignac|Cavaignac]] during the [[June Days Uprising]] in [[Paris]] of 23 to 26 June 1848. The cruelty and hatred that the governmental faction exhibited and the misery of the lower classes so shocked him that he withdrew from politics and refused to make portraits of the family of [[Napoléon III]], who reigned after the Uprising.

==Personal life==
On 16 March 1850, he married Sophie Marin, the widow of General [[:fr:Marie Étienne François Henri Baudrand|Baudrand]], and on 6 November of that year he finally became a French citizen. 

==Death==
He continued to frequently travel to the Netherlands, and traveled to [[Belgium]], [[Germany]], and [[England]], but a heart condition impaired his activity and eventually caused his death in 1858 in his summer house in [[Argenteuil]].<ref name=bdn/> He is buried in the [[Montmartre Cemetery|Cimetière de Montmartre]].

==Works==
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".<ref name="murray-96">Murray, P. & L. (1996), ''Dictionary of art and artists''. Penguin Books. {{ISBN|0-14-051300-0}}.</ref>

[[File:Ary Scheffer - Francesca da Rimini en Paolo Malatesta aanschouwd door Dante en Vergilius 1854.jpg|thumb|''[[Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta Appraised by Dante and Virgil]]'', 1854]]

Scheffer often painted subjects from literature, especially the works of [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]], [[Lord Byron|Byron]] and [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]. Two versions of ''Dante and Beatrice'' have been preserved at [[Wolverhampton Art Gallery]], United Kingdom,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=83123 |title=The Vision: Dante and Beatrice |last=Smyth |first=Patricia |work=The National Inventory of Continental European Paintings |publisher=[[VADS (organisation)|VADS]] |access-date=8 February 2018 |archive-date=9 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209063656/https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=83123 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]], US.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/dante-and-beatrice-31897 |title=Dante and Beatrice |date=11 November 2017 |website=Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |language=en |access-date=8 February 2018}}</ref> His ''L'Enterrement du Jeune Pêcheur'', illustrating a scene from Walter Scott's ''[[The Antiquary]]'' and taking inspiration from [[David Wilkie (artist)|David Wilkie]]'s ''[[Distraining for Rent]]'', was exhibited at the [[Salon of 1824]].<ref name = "Macmillan2023"/> Particularly highly praised was his ''[[Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta Appraised by Dante and Virgil|Francesca da Rimini]]'', painted in 1836, which illustrates a scene from [[Dante Alighieri]]'s [[Inferno (Dante)|''Inferno'']]. In the piece the entwined bodies of Francesca di Rimini and Paolo Malatesta swirl around in the never-ending tempest that is the second circle of Hell. The illusion of movement is created by the drapery that envelopes the couple, as well as by Francesca's flowing hair. These two figures create a diagonal line that intersects the majority of the canvas creating not only a sense of movement, but also giving the painting an air of instability.{{original research inline|date=February 2018}} Francesca clings to Paolo as he turns his face away in anguish. There are an additional two figures in the image: hidden in the background, the poets Dante and [[Virgil]] look on as they make their way through the nine circles of Hell.

Scheffer'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'': ''[[Mignon desires her fatherland]]'' (1836), and ''Mignon yearns for heaven'' (1851).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dordrechtsmuseum.nl/themas/ary-scheffer/|title=Ary Scheffer – Societyschilder in Parijs|publisher=[[Dordrechts Museum]]}}</ref>

[[File:Ary Scheffer - The Temptation of Christ (1854).jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Temptation of Christ'', 1854]]
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).

One of the reduced versions of his ''Christus Consolator'' (the [[prime version]] today to be found in the [[Van Gogh Museum]], Amsterdam), lost for 70 years, was rediscovered in a janitor's closet in Gethsemane Lutheran Church in [[Dassel, Minnesota]], in 2007. It has been restored and is on display at the [[Minneapolis Institute of Art]].<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Scheffer's Painting of Christ the Comforter Discovered in a Church in Rural Minnesota |date=March 31, 2009 |publisher=[[Minneapolis Institute of Art]] |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |url=https://new.artsmia.org/press/scheffers-painting-of-christ-the-comforter-discovered-in-a-church-in-rural-minnesota/ |last1=Wagener |first1=Anne-Marie |last2=Pleshek |first2=Tammy |access-date=9 February 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Scheffer Katarzyna Potocka.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Katarzyna Branicka|''Portrait of Katarzyna Potocka'']], 1850 ([[National Museum, Warsaw|National Museum]], [[Warsaw]])]]

Scheffer was also an accomplished portrait painter, finishing 500 portraits in total. His subjects included composers [[Frédéric Chopin]] and [[Franz Liszt]], the [[Marquis de la Fayette]], [[Pierre-Jean de Béranger]], [[Alphonse de Lamartine]], [[Charles Dickens]], [[Albertine, baroness Staël von Holstein|Duchess de Broglie]],<ref name="colliers">{{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Scheffer, Ary}}</ref> [[Talleyrand]]<ref name="colliers"/> and [[Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies|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 [[French Second Republic|Second Republic]] came into being. Scheffer was made commander of the Legion of Honour in 1848, that is, after he had wholly withdrawn from the Salon. Shut up in his studio, he produced many paintings that were only exhibited after his death in 1858.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Scheffer, Ary|volume=24|page=316|noprescript=1}}</ref>

The 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 and was further undermined by the sale of the Paturle Gallery, which contained many of his most celebrated achievements: though his paintings were praised for their charm and facility, they were condemned for poor use of color and vapid sentiment.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Friends and family==
[[File:Jesus and Angel by Ary Scheffer.jpg|thumb|upright|''Jesus and Angel'', between 1848 and 1858]]
[[File:Ary Scheffer - Christ Weeping Over Jerusalem - Walters 37111.jpg|thumb|upright|''Christ Weeping Over Jerusalem'', 1851]]

At various times [[Maurice Sand]], Scheffer, [[Charles Gounod]], [[Hector Berlioz]] were in relationships with [[Pauline Viardot]]—in letters they claimed that they were in love with her.<ref name=ИЧ_БК>[http://magazines.russ.ru/neva/2012/11/c14.html Журнальный зал >> Author:Ирина ЧАЙКОВСКАЯ "Полина Виардо: возможность дискуссии".  Chapter: "Безобразная красавица".]</ref> She wrote in one letter:
{{blockquote|Louis and Scheffer'' (Scheffer was the best friend of [[Louis Viardot]], husband of Pauline Viardot) ''has always been my dearest of friends, and it is sad, that I was never able to respond to the hot and deep love of Louis, despite all my volition.<ref name=ИЧ_МЖВ>[http://magazines.russ.ru/neva/2012/11/c14.html Журнальный зал >> Author:Ирина ЧАЙКОВСКАЯ "Полина Виардо: возможность дискуссии".  Chapter: "Монашка или женщина-вамп?"]</ref>}} She was married to Louis Viardot at 18 years old, when her husband was a director of an Italian opera house in Paris and a friend of Scheffer. Scheffer was a confidant of Pauline Viardot and a friend of her family until his death.<ref name=ИЧ_МЖВ/><ref>Barbara Kendall-Davis. P. 397.</ref>

In 1850 Scheffer became a French citizen and married Sophie Marin, the widow of General Marie Étienne François Henri Baudrand. Marin died in 1856.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reproductionsart.com/scheffer.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828234756/http://www.reproductionsart.com/scheffer.html |archive-date=28 August 2008 |title=Ary Scheffer Paintings, Scheffer Reproductions, Biography}}</ref>

[[File:Tombe d'Ernest Renan — Cimetière de Montmartre.jpg|thumb|right|Grave in [[Cimetière de Montmartre]] ([[Paris]])]]

His younger brother [[Hendrik Scheffer]], born in [[The Hague]] on 27 September 1798, was also a painter.<ref>{{Bryan (3rd edition)|title=Scheffer, Hendrik |volume=2|inline=y|no-prescript=y}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Ary Scheffer - La Mort de Malvina.jpg|''The Death of Malvina'', 1811
File:Ary Scheffer - La Mort de Géricault (1824).JPG|''The Death of [[Théodore Géricault|Géricault]]'', 1824
File:Ary Scheffer - mère convalescente.jpg|''A convalescent mother and her children'', 1824
File:Ary Scheffer - The Retreat of Napoleon’s Army from Russia in 1812 - 2011.136.1 - Yale University Art Gallery.jpg|''[[The Retreat of Napoleon's Army from Russia]]'', 1826
File:Ary Scheffer (1795-1858) - The Sister of Mercy - P616 - The Wallace Collection.jpg|''The Sister of Mercy'', 1831
File:Ary Scheffer - Franz Liszt.jpg|''Portrait of [[Franz Liszt]]'', 1837
File:Ary Scheffer faust.jpg|''Faust and Marguerite in the Garden'', 1846
File:Ary Scheffer Le petit atelier 1850.jpg|''Le petit atelier'', 1850
File:Ary Scheffer, Margarete at the fountain.jpg|''Marguerite at the fountain'', 1858
File:Lamartine par Ary Scheffer.jpg|Portrait of [[Lamartine]]
File:Ary Scheffer - Zelfportret - DM-S-31 - Dordrechts Museum.jpg|Self-portrait
File:Chopin-scheffer.jpg|[[Chopin]] by Scheffer
File:Charlotte Rothschild (1807–1859).jpg|Charlotte, wife of [[Anselm Salomon von Rothschild]]
File:Louis Ratisbonne.JPG|[[Louis Ratisbonne]]
File:Richard Cobden MP.jpg|[[Richard Cobden]]
File:Talleyrand, Charles-Maurice - Vieux.jpg|[[Talleyrand]]
File:Charlemagne, empereur d'Occident, reçoit la soumission de Wittekind, 785, por Ary Scheffer.jpg|Charlemagne receiving the submission of [[Widukind]] at [[Paderborn]] in 785, painted {{Circa|1840|lk=no}}
File:Ary Scheffer - Saint Louis visitant les pestiférés (1822).jpg|[[Louis IX of France|Saint Louis]] visitant les pestiférés (1822)
File:The Death of Saint Louis LACMA 81.2.jpg|Death of Saint Louis
File:Ary Scheffer - Bataille de Tolbiac 496.jpg|[[Battle of Tolbiac]] 496
File:Charles Dickens by Ary Scheffer 1855.jpg|''[[Portrait of Charles Dickens (Scheffer)|Portrait of Charles Dickens]]'', 1855
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Musée de la Vie Romantique]], Hôtel [[Scheffer]]-[[Ernest Renan|Renan]], [[Paris]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |title=Ary Scheffer and his English Circle |first=Edward |last=Morris |journal=Oud Holland |volume=99 |issue=4 |year=1985 |pages=294–323 |doi=10.1163/187501785X00143 |jstor=42711190 }}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Ary Scheffer}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030622012053/http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=482 Ary Scheffer at Art Renewal Center]

{{Romanticism}}
{{Eugène Delacroix}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheffer, Ary}}
[[Category:1795 births]]
[[Category:1858 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Dutch painters]]
[[Category:Immigrants to the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Immigrants to France]]
[[Category:Dutch male painters]]
[[Category:19th-century French painters]]
[[Category:French male painters]]
[[Category:Painters from Dordrecht]]
[[Category:Dutch romantic painters]]
[[Category:French romantic painters]]
[[Category:Dutch portrait painters]]
[[Category:French portrait painters]]
<!-- [[Category:Dutch Roman Catholics]] 
[[Category:French Roman Catholics]] not sure about these; his parents were protestant; anyhow not a defining trait -->
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:French philhellenes]]
[[Category:Academic art]]
[[Category:Burials at Montmartre Cemetery]]
[[Category:People of Montmartre]]
[[Category:Romantic painters]]
[[Category:19th-century French male artists]]
[[Category:19th-century Dutch male artists]]