Figures mythologiques et figures antiques
Peinture d'histoire ♦ Figures mythologiques et figures antiques
Henner s'interesse à une Antiquité idéale sans référence à une époque précise, s'inspirant des poésies bucoliques de la littérature antique et de la mythologie.
Les objets
Painting
Andromeda
1880
Henner depicts Ovid's heroine naked and chained to the rock, waiting for Perseus, her liberator. Painted on a cigar box lid with the blue of the label showing through, this painting is undoubtedly one of the many preparatory sketches for the Andromède of 1880, unless it is a later variation on the subject, Henner having the habit of reworking his compositions and making small repetitions for amateurs.
Painting
The Naiads
1877
Henner painted few large-scale decors, such as Les Naïades, a private commission for the dining room of Mr. and Mrs. Soyer's mansion at 43 rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré in Paris. The painter knew their son-in-law, Paul Sédille, the architect of the Magasins du Printemps. Henner, who had already exhibited a Naïade (aquatic nymph in Greek mythology) at the 1875 Salon (Paris, Musée d'Orsay), composed with a certain awkwardness one of his rare multi-figure paintings.
Painting
La Source
1881
Presented at the Salon in 1881, this painting is one of Henner's masterpieces. It depicts a redheaded nymph, personifying the Source, seated from behind in a landscape inspired by Alsatian landscapes. The composition repeats the pattern Henner had established many years ago: a redheaded figure at the edge of a pond, nestled between a meadow and a forest setting, on the outskirts of a hill. This work functions as a counterpart to La Fontaine (JJHP 239), painted a year earlier. Both appear to be variations on the same theme of light, in this case dawn, as evidenced by the nymph's awakening posture and gesture. This work functions as a counterpart to La Fontaine (JJHP 239)La Fontaine, painted a year earlier
Painting
The Dream or Sleeping Nymph
Circa 1896-1900
As Henner like to go back to the same subjects, sometimes years later, it is often difficult to identify a painting like this one, which the painter had not given a title to. It can nevertheless be compared to the Sleeping Nymph, exhibited at the Cercle Volney in 1896, or The Dream, shown at the Salon in 1900. This painting displays the characteristic elements that earned Henner his success, but also attracted criticism because of their repetitiveness: a nude red-haired woman with a very pale skin in a landscape that was typical of Sundgau in southern Alsace, almost invariably featuring bushes, a small pond, a hill and the sky at sunset. Although his inspiration came from the pastoral poetry of classical literature, Henner’s idyllic landscapes are in fact those of his native region.
Peinture
La Source
Vers 1881
Painting
Idyll
Replica of the 1872 Salon painting
After 1860, Henner moved away from contemporary subjects and explored themes rooted in a timeless Antiquity. He exhibited Idylle (Musée d'Orsay, RF 95) at the 1872 Salon, of which the work here is a late reinterpretation. The title of this work is inspired by pastoral poetry, a poetic genre founded by Theocritus, which tells of the rustic life and loves of shepherds. In his version, Henner chose to depict two female figures: one plays the flute seated while the other, standing, listens.
Painting
Eglogue
1879
This painting is a sketch for the much larger work presented at the 1879 Salon: nearly one meter sixty by three meters! (Petit Palais - Musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris, PPP 71). Also depicting a double female nude in a twilight landscape, Eglogue is like a variation of Idylle. But unlike the previous work, this one, in horizontal format, offers a more prominent part to the landscape, not unlike the idealized Alsatian landscapes whose image Henner systematizes. For this work, Henner drew inspiration not only from Theocritus, but also from Virgil and his Bucolics.
