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 Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

. He is best known for works depicting early French history and is sometimes called "the painter of the

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

s".

Life and career

Luminais was born in

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

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

Vendée Vendée () 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.René Marie Luminais, represented Loire-Inférieure 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, 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, art collector and professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Early life Bonnat was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 ...

, and Constant Troyon, 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 The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

, 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 ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. 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, 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 Albert Pierre René Maignan (14 October 1845 – 29 September 1908) was a French history painter and illustrator. Biography In 1864, he left his hometown to study law in Paris, earning his diploma in 1866. During his studies he also paint ...

and Emily Sartain; 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

Luminais worked in the

genre Genre () is any style or form 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 fo ...

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 (; , ''Galátai'') were a group of Celts, Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman Gaul, Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). Th ...

; 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 (, ; in United Kingdom: ''New Horizons'', in United States: ''Abrams Discoveries'') is an Collection (publishing), editorial collection of Book illustration, illustrated monographic books published by the Éditions Gallimard in Pocket edition, ...

": 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

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE ...

c rout at the hands of the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

in the

Battle of Tolbiac The Battle of Tolbiac was fought between the Franks, who were fighting under Clovis I, and the Alamanni, whose leader is not known. The date of the battle has traditionally been given as 496, though other accounts suggest it may either have been ...

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 around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

topics emphasise the barbaric cruelty of the rulers.

Pepin the Short the Short (; ; ; – 24 September 768), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian dynasty, Carolingian to become king. Pepin was the son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel and his wife Rotrude of H ...

's overthrow of

Childeric III Childeric III ( 717 – 754) was King of the Franks from 743 until he was deposed in 751 by Pepin the Short. He was the last Frankish king from the Merovingian dynasty. Once Childeric was deposed, Pepin became king, initiating the Carolingian dy ...

with the agreement of

Pope Zachary Pope Zachary (; 679 – March 752) was the bishop of Rome from 28 November 741 to his death in March 752. He was the last pope of the Byzantine Papacy. Zachary built the original church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, forbade the traffic of sla ...

and the deposed king's imprisonment in the Monastery of St. Bertin at

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; ; Picard: ''Saint-Onmé'') 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 Sa ...

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 Théodore is the French version of the masculine given name Theodore. Given name * Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny (1798–1871), French landscape painter and engraver * Théodore Anne (1892–1917), French playwright, librettist, and novelist * Théo ...

, 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'', depicting the king fleeing on horseback from his city of Ys as it is swallowed by the sea; St. Winwaloe urges him to jettison his only child, Dahut. The art museums in

Quimper Quimper (, ; ; or ) is a Communes of France, commune and Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the ...

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

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), based on a legend concerning the 7th-century Merovingian king Clovis II: 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 The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

, 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 in ...

, 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 Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

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 and the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

(1896), is now in the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. 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 Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

.Monochrome image
at

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

Brenne paintings

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 (; 603/605 – 19 January 639) was King of the Franks. He ruled Austrasia (623–634) and Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dynasty to wield real royal power, after which the ...

, ''Dagobert en Brenne''

Monumental painting

Luminais was one of five artists who collaborated between 1886 and 1889 on a monumental

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

, 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 Clovis II'' (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. .

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luminais, Evariste Vital 1821 births 1896 deaths Artists from Nantes 19th-century French painters French male painters Asterix