Liberté! Ary Scheffer and French Romanticism takes you to turbulent Paris in the first half of the nineteenth century, a time of political upheaval and cultural flourishing. Artists deployed their brushes as weapons or climbed the barricades themselves. So did the Dutch Ary Scheffer, who soon became one of Paris' most famous painters. His work still hangs in the Louvre's gallery of honour. Together with French artists such as Eugčne Delacroix and Théodore Géricault, he fought for freedom and equality; the ideals of the French Revolution of 1789.
In addition to a number of art-historical essays by experts from the Netherlands and France, philosopher Maarten Doorman reflects on the meaning of Romanticism today. The publication also includes a catalogue section with an overview of the exhibition. This makes the publication a standard work on the position of Ary Scheffer within French Romanticism.
8 Foreword Femke Hameetman
10 Introduction Quirine van der Meer Mohr
LIBERTÉ! Ary Scheffer and the elusiveness of French Romanticism
Sanne Baar 16 Timeline
Quirine van der Meer Mohr 20 BETWEEN COLOUR AND LINE
Ary Scheffer and French Romanticpainting
Mayken Jonkman 40 THE PATH TO SUCCESS
Ary Scheffer and fame
Gaėlle Rio 52 ARY SCHEFFER: AT THE HEART OF ROMANTIC LIFE
Bruno Chenique 62 ARY SCHEFFER AND THÉODORE GÉRICAULT
A fraternity of Romantic citizens
Stéphanie Deschamps-Tan 78 ARY SCHEFFER AND THE HOUSE OF ORLÉANS The alliance
of art with friendship
Maarten Doorman Nina Reid 90 Epilogue
ROMANTICISM MAKES EVERYTHING NEW
Quirine van der Meer Mohr 98 CATALOGUE
102 The tradition of the classics
110 An eye for the people
118 Struggle for independence
126 Revolution and monarchy
146 Desire for imagination
168 Repentance and religion
180 New landscape painting
189 Notes
197 Literature
203 Personal register
205 About the authors
Quirine van der Meer Mohr is a Masters student (University of Utrecht) who has prepared catalogue entries on Turners Dutch sketchbooks for J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours. As of 2018 she is Curator of 19th-Century Art at the Dordrechts Museum.
