Hendrik Scheffer

Hendrik Scheffer

Hendrik Scheffer (photo by Pierre Petit)
Born (1798-09-25)25 September 1798
The Hague
Died 15 March 1862(1862-03-15) (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:

Selected other works:

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]

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.

  1. (French) The 1845 Salon on the Litteratura website
  2. (French) The 1845 Salon on the Theophile Gautier website
  3. (French) Henri Scheffer in the Base Leonore
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