François-Joseph Navez (16 November 1787 in

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

– 12 October 1869 in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

) was a Belgian Neoclassical painter; known for his portraits and

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 ...

scenes.

Biography

As the son of an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

, in a privileged family, he was able to devote himself entirely to art from an early age. From 1803 to 1808, he was a pupil at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he studied with

Pierre Joseph Célestin François Pierre Joseph Célestin François or Joseph François (29 March 1759 - 13 March 1851) was a history, genre and miniature painter and etcher from the Southern Netherlands.

. In 1810, together with Antoine Brice and

Antoine Cardon Antoine-Alexandre-Joseph Cardon (1739, Brussels – 1822, Brussels), also known as Cardon the elder to distinguish him from his son Anthony Cardon, was a painter, portraitist and engraver. Life He was born in Brussels, then in the Austrian Nethe ...

, among others, he helped create the "Société des amateurs d'arts". In 1812, he was awarded first prize in a contest for history painting. This enabled him to go to Paris, where he worked and studied with

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

from 1813 to 1816. The following year he went to Rome, where he made the acquaintance of

Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

. He would live and work there until 1822. Upon returning to Belgium, he set up a studio. In 1825, he married Augustine-Flore de Lathuy (1798-1867), the daughter of a judge. When he became established, he began taking students. Alfred Cluysenaar, Fanny Geefs and

Auguste Danse Auguste Michel Danse (13 July 1829, Brussels – 2 August 1929, Uccle) was a Belgian engraver and etcher. Biography His father, Mathieu-Joseph Danse, was a merchant. While still very young, he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brussels ...

were among the more notable. In 1852, his best-known student,

Jean-François Portaels Jean-François Portaels or Jan Portaels (3 April 1818 – 8 February 1895) was a Belgium, Belgian Painting, painter of genre scenes, biblical stories, landscapes, portraits and orientalism, orientalist subjects. He was also a teacher and directo ...

, married his daughter Marie-Hélène (1828-1855). PM 145035 B Gent

Navez was elected a fourth class member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands in 1826, he became a supernumerary associate in 1841 and resigned in 1851. In 1830, he was named a member of his alma-mater, the Royal Academy. He was one of the founding members of the Royal Monument Commission, created in 1835. That same year, he was appointed Director of the Royal Academy. During the 1850s, he lost several close friends and family members. In 1863, he resigned from the Academy, citing health problems. He died in 1869, in the company of Portaels and his wife's relatives, and was interred at Laeken Cemetery. Streets have been named after him in Charleroi and

Schaerbeek (French language, French, ; former History of Dutch orthography, Dutch spelling) or (modern Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Reg ...

Main works

* 1816 : ''Sainte Véronique de Milan'',

Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent The Museum of Fine Arts (, MSK) an art museum in Ghent, Belgium, is situated at the East side of the Citadelpark (near the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst). The museum's collection consists of some 9000 artworks, dating from the Middle Ages to ...

. * 1816 : ''La Famille de Hemptinne'',

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (, ; , ) are a group of art museums in Brussels, Belgium. They are part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and consist of six museums: the Oldmasters Museum, the ...

, Belgium.

* 1819 : ''Scène de musique'',

Museum of Grenoble The Museum of Grenoble () is a municipal museum of Fine Arts and antiquities in the city of Grenoble in the Isère region of France. Located on the left bank of the Isère River, place Lavalette, it is known both for its collections of ancient ...

. * 1821 : ''Scène de brigands'', Private collection. * 1829 : ''La Nymphe Salmacis et Hermaphrodite'',

. * 1830 : ''Songe d'Athalie'',

, Belgium. * 1831 : ''Portrait d'un jeune homme songeur'' *1832 : ''Portrait of Theodore-Joseph Jonet and his two daughters,''

Groeningemuseum The Groeningemuseum is a municipal museum in Bruges, Belgium, built on the site of the medieval Eekhout Abbey. It houses a collection of Flemish and Belgian painting covering six centuries, from Jan van Eyck to Marcel Broodthaers. The museu ...

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

. * 1836 : ''Portrait de David'',

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square Mile stretch of Sherbrooke Street west. The MMFA ...

. * 1844 : ''Notre-Dame des Affligés'', Chiesa di S. Antonio, a

. * ''Trois Dames de Gand'',

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Gallery

File:Léonard Pierre Joseph Burgrave du Bus de Gisignies (1780-1849). Commissaris-generaal (1826-30) Rijksmuseum SK-A-3797.jpeg,

Leonard du Bus de Gisignies Leonard Pierre Joseph, Viscount du Bus de Gisignies (28 February 1780 – 31 May 1849) was a soldier and politician in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Early life He was born in Dottignies, Austrian Netherlands on 28 February 1780. He wa ...

(1836) File:François-Joseph Navez - The Incredulity of Saint Thomas - 2007.716 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg, The Incredulity of
St. Thomas (1823) File:1824 Navez Das Massaker der Unschuldigen anagoria.JPG,

Massacre of the Innocents The Massacre (or Slaughter) of the Innocents is a story recounted in the Nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew ( 2:16– 18) in which Herod the Great, king of Judea, orders the execution of all male children who are two years old and u ...

(1824) File:Francois-Joseph Navez-Louis David mg 3031.jpg, Jacques-Louis David (1817) File:Navez, Francois-Joseph — Die Spinnerinnen von Fondi — 1845.JPG, The Spinners of

Fondi Fondi (; Southern Laziale: ''Fùnn'') is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. As of 2017, the city had a population of 39,800. The city has experienced steady population growth si ...

(1845) File:François-Joseph Navez - Das kranke Kind.jpg, The Sick Child (1844) File:Baron de Stassart.jpg, Goswin de Stassart (1836) File:François Joseph Navez - Hagar in de woestijn - SA 2988 - Amsterdam Museum.jpg,

Hagar According to the Book of Genesis, Hagar is an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah (then known as ''Sarai''), whom Sarah gave to her own husband Abram (later renamed Abraham) as a wife to bear him a child. Abraham's firstborn son, through Haga ...

in the desert (1819) File:François-joseph navez, busto di vergine.jpg, Bust of the

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

(

Our Lady of Sorrows Our Lady of Sorrows (), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are Titles of Mary, names by which Mary, mother of Jesus, is referr ...

) File:François-Joseph Navez - Deux italiennes.jpg, Two Italians (1821)

References

External links

*
Entry on Navez
@

Geneanet Geneanet (previously stylized as GeneaNet) is a Paris-based genealogy website with 4 million members. Since 2021 it is a subsidiary of Ancestry, the largest genealogy company in the world. Its website consists of data added by registered particip ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Navez, Francois-Joseph 1787 births 1869 deaths Artists from Charleroi 19th-century Belgian painters Belgian male painters 19th-century Belgian male artists Belgian neoclassical painters 19th-century painters of historical subjects Pupils of Jacques-Louis David Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Burials at Laeken Cemetery Academic staff of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brussels

Biography

Main works

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links