Biblical figures
History painting ♦ Biblical figures
Jean-Jacques Henner moves towards a subtle religious painting between sensual representation and profound spirituality.
Les objets
Painting
Christ to donors
Between 1896 and 1903
Religious subjects, particularly depictions of Christ, are recurrent in Henner's work. More than an expression of religious sentiment, they appear as profound meditations on death. Like a variation on the same theme, Christ in the Shroud from the 1896 Salon is repeated here a few years later in Christ with Donors, in which he depicts members of his family on the left. The three figures (the artist's sister-in-law and nephews Jules and Eugénie) were obviously added later, the composition being painted on three pieces of canvas sewn together, to make the painting a Christ aux donateurs in the tradition of early painting.
Painting
La Magdeleine
Between 1878 and 1880
This work is a study for La Magdeleine presented at the 1878 Salon (Mulhouse, Musée des Beaux-arts). Mary Magdalene is shown half-naked, seated in a slumped posture, hands clasped and face turned skyward. This image breaks with the traditional representation of the saint, here placed in a closed universe, devoid of accessories and conducive to penitence. Henner depicted this biblical figure many times, in different attitudes, but as Gabriel Séailles points out:
Painting
Herodias
About 1887
This Hérodiade is a study for the painting presented at the 1887 Salon (current location unknown). Henner often prepared his paintings with large studies painted on brown paper, enabling him to fix the essential features of his composition. They are characterized by a strength and expressiveness that are attenuated in the final painting. Hérodiade holds a tray in which lies the severed head of St. John the Baptist, which her daughter Salome obtained by dancing. Henner painted several female figures from the Bible with rather similar poses: Hérodiade (in 1887 but of which several variants are known), Judith (circa 1886-1877) and Rébecca (circa 1903-1905).
Painting
Saint Sebastian
1888, Musée d'Orsay deposit
Saint Sébastien was bought by the State at the 1888 Salon, to be exhibited at the Musée du Luxembourg, then devoted to living artists. The subject is not very original, but Henner's treatment of it shows a certain singularity. For example, the painting highlights above all the body of the saint martyred in the IIIrd century for adopting the Christian faith, expressing his suffering but without really showing the arrows, dimly visible in one corner of the painting, or the blood of his martyrdom. The treatment of light and shadow, where we recognize Prud'hon's influence, is also unusual in the way the painter makes an arm disappear in the half-light. The lunar light and the contrast between the saint's livid body and the women's black veils are characteristic of the artist's style. A caricature published in the Journal amusant on September 12, 1888 depicts him as "Saint Sebastian eaten by bats".
Painting
Adam and Eve finding Abel's body
1858
In 1858, after two unsuccessful attempts, Henner won the Grand Prix de Rome for painting with Adam and Eve finding the body of Abel. The competition subject was inspired by Genesis: Adam and Eve discover the lifeless body of their son Abel, killed by his own brother Cain. Pleased that the subject did not require extensive historical reconstruction, Henner wrote to his former teacher Charles Goutzwiller:
