1909. THE EXECUTION OF LADY JANE GREY.
Paul Delaroche (French: 1797-1856).
Hippolyte, or (as he called himself) Paul, Delaroche, was the popular French painter of his time, and this is one of his best known pictures. He turned to historical illustration as affording scope for an art which should reconcile the "classical" with the "romantic." He was the embodiment in the art of painting, as someone has put it, of Louis Philippe's maxim of the juste-milieu. To the same class with the present picture belong his "Death of Queen Elizabeth" (Louvre), "The Princes in the Tower" (familiar from engravings), and several works in the Wallace Collection. Ruskin, while not enamoured of his pictures (see Fors Clavigera, Letter 35), allows that his "honest effort to grasp the reality of conceived scenes" compares favourably with "the deathful formalism and fallacy of what was once called 'Historical Art,'" and that his kindly-meant talent has "contributed greatly to the instruction of innumerable households" (Works, vol. xix. pp. 50, 205). Théophile Gautier, more contemptuously, described Delaroche's art as that of "historical illustration for the family use of the bourgeoisie," and the vogue which it enjoyed all over Europe set the fashion for what became a prevailing style of "stage-dramatic representation" in painting. In 1833 (the date on our picture) Delaroche was appointed a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts, and from 1837-1841 he was engaged upon the principal work of his life, the decoration of the amphitheatre of that school—the idea of his design being an assemblage of the chiefs of the arts in past ages to witness the triumphs of the labourers in his own age. He was assisted in this colossal work by many pupils; among them was Edward Armitage, R. A. (see vol. ii. No. 759), who has given an interesting account of the manner of their co-operation (see Report of the Commissioners on the Royal Academy, 1863, p. 64). The "Hemicycle" was much damaged by fire in 1853, and was restored after the death of Delaroche by Robert Henry.
The scene is in the Tower, February 12, 1554. Lady Jane Grey, condemned for treason, has been blindfolded, and is being led to the block by the Lieutenant of the Tower.
1914. A ROYAL CHÂTEAU IN HOLLAND.
1915. A DUTCH CHURCH AND MARKET PLACE.
Jan van der Heyden (Dutch: 1637-1712). See 866.
The château in the former picture is "The House in the Wood" (Huis ten Bosch), built in 1647, in which the first Peace Conference was held at The Hague.