Évariste Vital Luminais (; 13 October 1821 – 10 or 15 May 1896"LUMINAIS, E. V.", ''Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers'', rev. ed. George C. Williamson, Volume 3, New York: Macmillan / London: Bell, 1904,
p. 258
) was a French painter. He is best known for works depicting early French history and is sometimes called "the painter of the

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

s".

Life and career

Luminais was born in Nantes into a parliamentary and legal family. His great-grandfather Michel Luminais was an official in the

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

; his grandfather Michel-Pierre Luminais represented the Vendée in parliament from 1799 to 1803; and his father, René Marie Luminais, represented

Loire-Inférieure Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...

from 1831 to 1834 and

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.Auguste Debay. He also studied with

Léon Cogniet Léon Cogniet (29 August 1794 – 20 November 1880) was a French history and portrait painter. He is probably best remembered as a teacher, with more than one hundred notable students. Biography He was born in Paris. His father was a painter ...

, a historical and portrait painter whose pupils included

Léon Bonnat Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (20 June 1833 – 8 September 1922) was a French painter, Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur and professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Early life Bonnat was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 he lived in M ...

, and

Constant Troyon Constant Troyon (August 28, 1810 – February 21, 1865) was a French painter of the Barbizon school. In the early part of his career he painted mostly landscapes. It was only comparatively late in life that Troyon found his ''métier'' as a pa ...

, who painted landscapes and animals.Evariste Luminais (French, 1821–1896): ''Merovingians Attacking a Wild Dog'', ca. 1875–85
Dahesh Museum of Art, retrieved 19 July 2014. He married twice. By his first wife, Anne Foiret, he had a daughter, Esther. After Anne's death in 1874, he remarried in 1876 to one of his pupils, Hélène de Sahuguet d'Amarzit d'Espagnac; she had been married to Claude Durand de Neuville but had been widowed in the War of 1870. He made his official début at the 1843 Paris Salon, where two of his paintings were hung. He won medals at the Salons of 1852, 1855, 1857, 1861 and 1889. In 1869, he was awarded the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. He won the gold medal at the 1889 Exposition, and was a founder member of the Société des Artistes Français. For more than forty years, he divided his time between his Paris studio at 17 boulevard Lannes and his summer house and studio in the village of

Douadic Douadic () is a commune in the Indre department in central France. Geography The commune is located in the parc naturel régional de la Brenne. Population See also *Communes of the Indre department The following is a list of the 241 comm ...

, in the Brenne region. The area had been recommended to him by two friends, Jules de Vorys and Louis Fombelle. Among his students were Albert Maignan and

Emily Sartain Emily Sartain (March 17, 1841 – June 17, 1927) was an American painter and engraver. She was the first woman in Europe and the United States to practice the art of mezzotint engraving, and the only woman to win a gold medal at the 1876 World F ...

; he was one of the few Academy painters who would teach women. Luminais died in Paris at the age of 75 and was buried in the little cemetery in Douadic. His native city of Nantes has a street named for him."Rue Evariste Luminais", Édouard Pied, ''Notices sur les rues, ruelles, cours, impasses, quais, ponts, boulevards, places et promenades de la ville de Nantes'', Nantes: Dugas, 1906, p. 180
online
at fr.wikisource.

Works

Evariste-Vital Luminais - Goths traversant une rivière

Luminais worked in the

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

and historical modes. He was among the academic painters who satisfied a social demand for aggrandising, even propagandistic historical works in the early years of the Third Republic, after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. As such, he shared in their condemnation by the advocates of modern art. However, in some paintings, such as ''The Widow'' (1865) he foreshadows social realism. He also used a historical dressing to make hunting and peasant scenes more palatable to the Academy.

Gauls and other ancient peoples

Luminais played an important part in disseminating the iconography of the

Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They s ...

; their popular image, with long hair and winged helmets, was developed by historians at this time as part of an examination of French history. Sometimes called 'the painter of the Gauls', he also depicted other scenes of early medieval history, often clashes between different peoples, such as campaign-hardened Romans in breastplates reinforced with metal battling daring Celts who are bare-chested, with only helmet and shield for protection. Christiane Éluère, '' L'Europe des Celtes'', coll. “ Découvertes Gallimard”: Histoire (vol. 158), Paris: Gallimard, 1992, , p. 79 . More unusually among historical artists of the time, he also depicted the Franks, whose contribution to French history was then generally underrated in favour of the Gauls.Bonnie Effros, ''Uncovering the Germanic Past: Merovingian Archaeology in France, 1830–1914'', Oxford studies in the history of archaeology, Oxford: Oxford University, 2012,
p. 25
His painting of the Alemannic rout at the hands of the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

in the Battle of Tolbiac impressed

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

at the 1848 Salon. His ''Frankish Cavalry in Combat'' was inspired by reading Chateaubriand. His paintings on

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

topics emphasise the barbaric cruelty of the rulers. Pepin the Short's overthrow of

Childeric III Childeric III ( 717 – 754) was King of Francia from 743 until he was deposed by Pope Zachary in March 751 at the instigation of Pepin the Short. Although his parentage is uncertain, he is considered the last Frankish king from the Merovingian ...

with the agreement of Pope Zachary and the deposed king's imprisonment in the Monastery of St. Bertin at

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audoma ...

is the subject of his painting ''The Last of the Merovingians'', for which he reportedly used one Jean Marie Dagobert as his model. At the 1883 Salon, the critic Charles Bigot hoped this would indeed be Luminais "last" Merovingian painting.Bonnie Effros
"Artistic, scholarly, and popular depictions of the 'première race' in late nineteenth-century France"
in: ''Vergangenheit und Vergegenwärtigung: Frühes Mittelalter und europäische Erinnerungskultur'', ed. Helmut Reimitz and Bernhard Zeller, Denkschriften (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse), Forschungen zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 14, Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2009, , pp. 71–91. As was common among historical painters at the time, his paintings contain anachronisms and out of place details. For example, in the 1906 painting of a Gaul returning from the hunt, the clothing is anachronistic and the helmet more a characterisation of the mounted man as a Gaul than a hunting accessory. The long red hair is part of the 19th-century image of the Gaul. His ''In Sight of Rome'' shows the same liberty: the shield on the left and the helmets are not realistic. The Celtic incursion into Italy made an early and lasting impression on artists. In depicting the Merovingian Franks, 19th-century painters unaware of archaeological evidence costumed queens in Oriental Germanic fashion, as in Luminais' ''Merovingian Princess''. Luminais' approach focussed more on distancing the image from the present than on evoking a specific era. Having met Théodore Hersart de La Villemarqué, who had published a collection of popular Breton songs, ''

Barzaz Breiz ''Barzaz Breiz'' (in modern spelling ''Barzhaz Breizh'', meaning "Ballads of Brittany": ''barzh'' is the equivalent of "bard" and ''Breizh'' means "Brittany") is a collection of Breton popular songs collected by Théodore Hersart de la Villemar ...

'', around 1884 he based on one of the songs his ''Flight of King

Gradlon Gradlon the Great (''Gradlon Meur'') was a semi-legendary 5th century "king" of Cornouaille who became the hero of many Breton folk stories. The most famous of these legends is the story of the sunken city of Ys. He is supposed to have been the s ...

'', depicting the king fleeing on horseback from his city of Ys as it is swallowed by the sea;

St. Winwaloe Saint Winwaloe ( br, Gwenole; french: Guénolé; la, Winwallus or ; – 3 March 532) was the founder and first abbot of Landévennec Abbey (literally "Llan (placename), Lann of Venec"), also known as the Monastery of Winwaloe. It was just south ...

urges him to jettison his only child,

Dahut Dahut, also called Ahes, is a princess in Breton legend and literature, associated with the legend of the drowned city of Ys. Etymology Amy Varin suggests that Dahut was given the name Ahes due to confusion with "alc'huez" (key). Legend of ...

. The art museums in

Quimper Quimper (, ; br, Kemper ; la, Civitas Aquilonia or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department. Geography Th ...

, Rennes and Nantes hold several sketches for the work. Exhibited at the Salon of 1884, the painting was hailed as a "superb dramatic group, full of life".

''The Sons of Clovis II''

In 1880 he painted what, according to Bonnie Effros, was his most famous Merovingian painting, ''The Sons of Clovis II'', also called ''Les Énervés de Jumièges'' (the enervated men of

Jumièges Jumièges () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. Geography A forestry and farming village situated in a meander of the river Seine, some west of Rouen, at the junction of the D 65 and th ...

), based on a legend concerning the 7th-century Merovingian king

Clovis II Clovis II (633 – 657) was King of Neustria and Burgundy, having succeeded his father Dagobert I in 639. His brother Sigebert III had been King of Austrasia since 634. He was initially under the regency of his mother Nanthild until her ...

: after rebelling against their father, the two princes are said to have been punished according to their own mother's suggestion by the removal of their vital force ("enervation") through the destruction of the tendons of their muscles; they were then set adrift on a raft in the River Seine, at the mercy of God, but according to the legend they were rescued by the monks of the Abbey of Jumièges''The Sons of Clovis''

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen is an art museum in Rouen, in Normandy in north-western France. It was established by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1801, and is housed in a building designed by and built between 1877 and 1888. Its collections include ...

, retrieved 17 July 2014. and later reconciled with their parents. The version exhibited at the 1880 Salon created a sensation and is judged to be his best work. The painting evokes varying and strong reactions; Simone de Beauvoir wrote in 1960 of "calm horror". The work went through a number of stages of refinement. The first study, ''Première pensée pour les Énervés de Jumièges'', shows the cutting of the tendons and depicts four figures; a second study depicts the raft floating down the river, but has three figures, prefiguring the men's salvation by the monks. The two finished paintings show only the two figures alone on the raft. The version shown at the Salon was sold to Australia under the title ''The Sons of Clovis II'' and after being exhibited in various locations including Wallis & Sons' gallery of French paintings in London (1881), the Munich International Exposition (1883), the

National Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

and the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

(1896), is now in the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. The second version, with greater emphasis on the grandeur of nature, was kept by Luminais; after his death it was acquired by the State and in 1912 was deposited in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen.Monochrome image
at

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visua ...

Brenne paintings

Evariste-Vital Luminais - Les Etats Unis à la Bourse du Commerce

At his summer studio in Douadic, he painted works reflecting his love of nature and of hunting, such as: * ''The Hallali, memories of hunting in Brenne in 1863'' * ''The Two Guardians'' * ''La Folle du Tertre'' (the madwoman of the mound), based on a local legend * ''Hunting Through the Ages'', six-panel work for the dining room of his friend Louis Fombelle * Illustrations for Jules de Vorys' book on

Dagobert I Dagobert I ( la, Dagobertus; 605/603 – 19 January 639 AD) was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dyna ...

, ''Dagobert en Brenne''

Monumental painting

Luminais was one of five artists who collaborated between 1886 and 1889 on a monumental fresco, more than in area, for the interior of the dome of the Paris Commercial Bourse, representing the history of intercontinental trade. It includes a scene representing America which features Indians, slaves, labourers, cowboys, and a steam train representing the modern world. File:Evariste-Vital Luminais - Gaulois en vue de Rome.jpg, ''In Sight of Rome'' File:Evariste-Vital Luminais - Pirates normands au IXe siècle.jpg, ''Norman pirates in the 9th century'' File:Evariste-Vital Luminais - Les deux rivaux.jpg, ''Rivals'' File:Evariste-Vital Luminais - Psyché.jpg, ''Psyché'' Image:'The Sons of Clovis II', oil on canvas painting by Évariste Vital Luminais, 1880, Art Gallery of New South Wales.jpg, ''The Sons of

'' (Sydney version) File:Evariste-Vital Luminais - La soupe des chiens de chasse.jpg, ''Feeding the hunting dogs''

References

Further information

* * Françoise Daum, Dominique Dussol ''et al''. ''Evariste Vital Luminais, Peintre des Gaules, 1821–1896''. Exhibition catalogue. Carcassonne: Musée des beaux-arts; Charleville-Mézières: Musée de l'Ardenne, 2002. . * Gilles Brenta and Claude François (script and direction). ''Le Défilé des toiles''. VHS documentary. 52 mins. Brussels: Les Trois petits cochons, 1997. . * Claude Duty. ''Les Énervés de Jumièges''. Short film, in ''Claude Duty réalisateur: six films courts.'' VHS compilation. 72 mins. France: Production A.A.A. / Stellaire Production, 1986–1995. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Luminais, Evariste Vital 1822 births 1896 deaths Artists from Nantes 19th-century French painters French male painters Asterix