56

Ary Scheffer (1795-1858)
Allans, enfants de la patrie. Dated 1825. Panel, 48 × 66.5 cm.

Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum.

Ary Scheffer's father died when his son was only fourteen years old, in 1809. The father was court pain-ter to the French King of Holland, Louis Napoleon, who offered to send the boy to France to complete his training as an artist. Before the family could take advantage of the offer, however, Louis Napoleon resigned. The widow took Ary to France on her own, starting him on a career that, after a very difficult start, was to become one of the most brilliant of the nineteenth century. Ary's brother Arnold became secretary to General Lafayette; both of them were conspicuous figures in the circle of the liberal duke of Orleans.

This sketch dates from the year after the restoration of the monarchy under the absolutist Charles x. A subject like Allans, enfants de la patrie, painted just as the privileges of the French aristocrats were being restored, was not calculated to inspire the trust of the powers that be. In fact, the Scheffer brothers were under sur-veillance by the secret police. They were to remain suspect until the coup of 1830 and the accession of the Roi Citoyen Louis Philippe, under whose reign they shined.

Kolb 1937.