Louis Héctor Leroux
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Louis Hector Leroux (27 December 1829,
Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...
-11 November 1900,
Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...
) was a French painter in the academic style, affiliated by critics with the ''Néo-Grecs'' movement in art. He specialized in meticulously researched paintings of ancient Rome, especially depictions of women. He was best known for a series of some thirty paintings which spanned his entire career, depicting
Vestal virgins In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals (, singular ) were Glossary of ancient Roman religion#sacerdos, priestesses of Vesta (mythology), Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals ...
. His daughter,
Laura Leroux-Revault Laura Leroux-Revault (née Maria Laura Desiderata Le Roux) (14 September 1872 – June 1936) was a French artist and painter, trained at the Académie Julian art school in Paris. Her first teacher was her father, the painter Louis Hector Leroux. ...
, was also a painter.


Education, years in Rome

Born into a family of modest means in
Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...
, Leroux was apprenticed to his father, a barber, before attending drawing classes at the Collège de Verdun, taught by a painter trained in the workshops of
Antoine-Jean Gros Antoine-Jean Gros (; 16 March 177125 June 1835) was a French painter of historical subjects. He was granted the title of Baron Gros in 1824. Gros studied under Jacques-Louis David in Paris and began an independent artistic career during the ...
and
Michel Martin Drolling Michel Martin Drolling (7 March 1786 – 9 January 1851) was a Neoclassicism, neoclassic French painter noted especially as a History painting, painter of history and portraitist. Biography He was born in Paris. There, he began painting under th ...
, who quickly spotted his talent. From 1849 to 1855, first the General Council of the
Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...
and then the city of Verdun granted him annual scholarships to pursue his education in Paris. In 1849, at the age of twenty, he entered the
École des beaux-arts de Paris The (), formally the (), is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level fine arts education and training. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is located on two sites: Saint-G ...
and for eleven years studied in the atelier of
François-Édouard Picot François-Édouard Picot (; 10 October 1786 – 15 March 1868) was a French painter during the July Monarchy, painting mythological, religious and historical subjects. Life Born in Paris, Picot studied with François-André Vincent and Jacq ...
, where he won medals for drawing, landscape, and historical composition. It was in Picot's studio that he met his lifelong friend
Jean-Jacques Henner Jean-Jacques Henner (5 March 1829 – 23 July 1905) was a French painter, noted for his use of sfumato and chiaroscuro in painting nudes, religious subjects and portraits. Biography Henner was born at Bernwiller (Alsace). He began his stud ...
. He supported himself by working as a
lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...
and as an illustrator for fashion journals.Katow. In 1857, 1858, and 1859 he entered the annual competition for the
Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...
, administered by the
Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...
, which awarded the Grand Prix winner a multi-year scholarship to study and paint in Rome. He came close; his painting for 1857, when the assigned subject was the resurrection of Lazarus, received the Premier Second Grand Prix. After 1859, Leroux could no longer compete for the prize, which was restricted to entrants under the age of thirty. Determined that Leroux should go to Rome, his master Picot, along with
Hippolyte Flandrin Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin (23 March 1809 – 21 March 1864) was a French Neoclassical painter. His most celebrated work, ''Study (Young Male Nude Seated Beside the Sea), Jeune Homme Nu Assis au Bord de la Mer'' (1836) is held in the Louvre. Biog ...
and
Léon Halévy Léon Halévy (4 January 1802 – 2 September 1883) was a French civil servant, historian, and dramatist. Early life Born to a Jewish family in Paris, Léon was the son of the writer and chazzan Élie Halévy and the younger brother of the ...
of the Institut, arranged for Leroux to receive a commission in 1860 from the École des beaux-arts de Paris to produce a copy of
Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...
's '' Sacred and Profane Love'' at the
Galleria Borghese The or Borghese Gallery is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate touri ...
in Rome. The commission paid for his travel and provided lodging at the
French Academy in Rome The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by Louis XIV under the dire ...
, alongside the winners of the
Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...
. Leroux arrived in Rome on March 12, 1860. At the
Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...
he was welcomed by his friend Henner, who had won the Prix de Rome in 1858, and subsequently met and befriended
Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu (; 29 September 1833 – 21 April 1891) was a French sculptor in a modified Neoclassical tradition who was known for his use of allegory in his work. Life and career Born in Le Mée-sur-Seine into modest circumstances ...
(Prix de Rome, 1855),
Jules Joseph Lefebvre Jules Joseph Lefebvre (; 14 March 183624 February 1911) was a French painter, educator and theorist. Early life Lefebvre was born in Tournan-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, on 14 March 1836. He entered the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Ar ...
(Prix de Rome, 1861),
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
Tony Robert-Fleury Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911) was a French painter, known primarily for historical scenes. He was also a prominent art teacher, with many famous artists among his students. Biography He was born just outside Paris, and st ...
. In 1861, this group of friends, along with numerous other French artists, architects, musicians, and sculptors in Rome, formed a group called the (Italian for grilled chestnuts), which met for annual banquets in Paris for many years afterwards. After his copy of Titian was completed and sent to Paris, Leroux stayed on in Rome, supporting himself, alongside Henner, by painting picturesque scenes for the foreign tourists. He and Henner also traveled beyond Rome, including trips to Pompeii, immersing themselves in the landscapes, art, and archeology of Italy.Couëlle (2008), p. 210. "My path opened before me; I was fated for antiquity," Leroux later said. "There I was in Rome, surrounded by history, and it would have been hard for me not to follow my calling."Montrosier, p. 106. Leroux lived seventeen years in Rome, with excursions across Italy and beyond to Greece, Asia Minor, Turkey, and Egypt, as well as some return trips to France. In 1871 he married a young Italian, Giuditta Clelia Casali.


Painter of Vestals

In 1863, at the age of 33, Leroux debuted at the
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 ...
with two paintings: ''Croyantes'' ("Believers," also known as ''Invocation to the Goddess
Hygieia Hygieia is a goddess from Greek mythology (more commonly spelled Hygeia, sometimes Hygiea; ; or , or ). Hygieia is a goddess of health ( – ''hugieia''), cleanliness and hygiene. Her name is the source for the word "hygiene". Hygieia devel ...
'') and ''Une Nouvelle Vestale''. Both were set in the ancient world, and both depicted women in religious contexts. ''Croyantes'' shows two women helping an ailing supplicant to approach a statue of a goddess in hopes of obtaining a divine cure, while ''Une Nouvelle Vestale'' depicts a candidate for the chaste life of a keeper of the holy flame of Vesta, protector of the city of Rome. In following years, Leroux would return repeatedly to both themes. The idea to paint a Vestal did not originate with Leroux, but from a commission he received from the École des beaux-arts de Paris that specified the subject. "Chance made me talk about these virgins from my first painting," he would later say.
I have always returned to them, first out of gratitude and then out of sympathy. I collected the scattered fragments of their lives as I found them in
Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus (, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary style was ''atticistic'' – imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime. ...
,
Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
,
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
,
Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...
,
Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...
,
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
,
Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...
,
Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...
,
Valerius Maximus Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' or ''Facta et dicta memorabilia''). He worke ...
,
Justus Lipsius Justus Lipsius (Joest Lips or Joost Lips; October 18, 1547 – March 23, 1606) was a Flemish Catholic philologist, philosopher, and humanist. Lipsius wrote a series of works designed to revive ancient Stoicism in a form that would be compatibl ...
, and other authors who have since become my only companions.
Leroux became best known for his paintings of Vestals (some thirty between 1863 and 1899), which were warmly received by critics. Louis Ernault wrote:
Everything pertaining to the Vestal virgins has found in M. Le Roux an illustrator and historian. He shows them to us in the performance of all the functions of their virginal priesthood, sometimes rekindling the symbolic flame on the burning altar; sometimes invoking the goddess; sometimes sitting on the steps of their temple; and sometimes walking in white processions in the countryside with vast horizons...I love these chaste and proud girls of the great Roman aristocracy, charged with watching over the eternal fire of their goddess, and smothering in their marble bosoms the flames of all mortal love."
His final painting submitted to the Paris Salon, in 1899, the year before his death, closed the long series devoted to Vestals with a grim ''finis''. It was titled, ''La gardienne du Champ scélérat, lieu de sépulture des Vestales enterrées vives, à Rome'' ("Guardian of the Crime-Stained Field, Graveyard of Vestal Virgins Buried Alive, in Rome." The punishment for a Vestal who broke her vow of chastity was to be entombed alive.)Couëlle, p. 211 File:Hector Leroux--A Vestal on the bank of the Tiber in Rome.jpg, ''A Vestal on the bank of the Tiber'' (undated), private collection File:Leroux Louis Hector--La Vestale Tuccia--1874.jpg, ''La Vestale Tuccia'' (1874), location unknown File:Hector Leroux--Claudia Quinta.png, ''La Vestale Claudia Quinta'' (1877), private collection File:Hector Leroux--Vestals--Mansell--London.jpg, ''École de Vestales'' (1880), Mansell Collection, London


Other themes

Besides Vestals, Leroux painted a number of other images inspired by the ancient world, almost invariably centered on women, including paintings of
Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...
,
Messalina Valeria Messalina (; ) was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation ...
, the
Lesbia Lesbia was the literary pseudonym used by the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus ( 82–52 BC) to refer to his lover. Lesbia is traditionally identified with Clodia, the wife of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer and sister of Publius Clodius Pu ...
of
Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; ), known as Catullus (), was a Latin neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works remain widely read due to their popularity as teaching tools and because of their personal or sexual themes. Life ...
, the mythical
Danaïdes In Greek mythology, the Danaïdes (; ), also Danaides or Danaids, were the fifty daughters of Danaus, king of Ancient Libya, Libya. Danaus and the Danaids feared that Danaus's twin brother, Aegyptus, was plotting to overthrow and kill them. So, t ...
, a
Sibyl The sibyls were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece. The sibyls prophet, prophesied at holy sites. A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by Pausanias (geographer), PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he desc ...
, and women at worship at sacred shrines, usually in groups, but in one case a lone supplicant seeking vengeance on a faithless lover or a rival by making sacrifice to
Eros Eros (, ; ) is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite. He is usually presented as a handsome young ma ...
Ultor (Avenging Eros). File:Leroux--Lesbia--1872.jpg, ''Lesbie jouant avec son moineau'' (1872), location unknown File:Hector Leroux-- La Cruche Cassée--Broken Vessel.jpg, ''La Cruche Cassée'' (1877), private collection File:Hector Leroux--Les Danaïdes--1877 (cropped).jpg, ''Les Danaïdes'' (1877), location unknown File:Leroux--Au tombeau de Virgile; Naples--Paris Salon 1887.jpg, ''Au tombeau de Virgile; Naples'' (1887), private collection File:Hector Leroux, An allegory of vengeful love.jpg, ''A l'Amour vengeur. Herculanum'' (1879), private collection File:Illus0362.jpg, ''Périclès visitant l'atelier de Phidias'' (1898),
Musée Bonnat-Helleu The Musée Bonnat-Helleu is an art museum in Bayonne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The museum was created in 1901 when Bayonne-born painter Léon Bonnat gave his extensive personal collections of art – notably an exceptional drawing collection ...
,
Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...
File:Hector Leroux--Lesbia--oil on panel.jpg, ''Lesbia'' (undated), private collection


Historical accuracy, scholarship

In his lifetime, Leroux was highly respected by colleagues and praised by critics, including
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 ...
, who coined the term ''Néo-Grecs'', and his work was sought after by collectors including Americans
John Jacob Astor III John Jacob Astor III (June 10, 1822 – February 22, 1890) was an American financier, philanthropist and a soldier during the American Civil War. He was a prominent member of the Astor family, becoming the wealthiest member in his generation. Ea ...
and Samuel P. Avery. His deep research and historical accuracy were often cited. Wrote an American critic,
Hector Leroux's works always impress the spectator with the idea that the soul of an antique Greek or Roman has somehow strayed downward through the centuries, and become incarnate in the person of a Frenchman of the nineteenth century. He paints the scenes and personages of classical antiquity as though he had dwelt among them.
While living in Italy, he followed the work of pioneering archaeologists and collaborated with them;
Pietro Rosa Pietro Rosa (November 10, 1810 in Rome – August 15, 1891 in Rome) was an Italian architect and topographer. He studied the settlements of the ancient Roman countryside and carried out a systematic series of excavations on the Palatine Hill in R ...
, excavating the
House of Livia A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...
on the
Palatine Hill The Palatine Hill (; Classical Latin: ''Palatium''; Neo-Latin: ''Collis/Mons Palatinus''; ), which relative to the seven hills of Rome is the centremost, is one of the most ancient parts of the city; it has been called "the first nucleus of the ...
in 1869, commissioned Leroux to make watercolor copies of the ancient wall paintings "before they faded." For the library of the
École des beaux-arts de Paris The (), formally the (), is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level fine arts education and training. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is located on two sites: Saint-G ...
he was commissioned to produce a meticulous study of antique costume embellished with numerous sketches, a work which survives in manuscript form. His painting of a
Sibyl The sibyls were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece. The sibyls prophet, prophesied at holy sites. A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by Pausanias (geographer), PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he desc ...
, one of the legendary oracles of the ancient world, carried on the tradition of painters including
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...
and
Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as (il) Guercino (), was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous n ...
, but with authentic ancient furnishing and costume; instead of an anachronistic
codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...
, the Sibyl's prophetic books are scrolls contained in a cylindrical Roman ''capsa''. Leroux's accuracy was not always flawless. Vestals were recruited among girls no older than ten, but Leroux's ''Une Nouvelle Vestale'' of 1863 shows a considerably older girl being presented by the Pontifex Maximus to the Virgo Maxima. "I will not examine whether this composition is exactly consistent with historical data," wrote Marius Chaumelin in his review of the Paris Salon of 1863; "I will only point out that the novice seems to have far exceeded the upper age limit (10 years), below which the new priestesses of Vesta were chosen from the patrician families." A later painting by Leroux, depicting the inauguration of a Vestal, shows an aspirant of more suitable age. Vestals who broke their vow of chastity were entombed alive. For the lesser offense of allowing the sacred flame of Vesta to be extinguished, the punishment was to be scourged with rods, yet Leroux, perhaps misreading the sources, believed extinction of the flame was a capital offense. In ''Un miracle chez la bonne déesse'' of 1869, he depicts a Vestal imploring a statue of the
Bona Dea Bona Dea (; 'Good Goddess') was a List of Roman deities, goddess in Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion. She was associated with chastity and fertility among married Women in ancient Rome, Roman women, healing, and the protection of t ...
; describing the painting in a letter to Henner, Leroux wrote, "A young Vestal let her fire be extinguished! This is a serious matter. The whole body of Vestals has gathered and the culprit has just been sentenced to death." In a letter to an American collector, he wrote, "You do not know how terrible was the law ruling this company of virgins. They must constantly tend the sacred fire; if extinguished, it was death." Leroux produced multiple images of a negligent Vestal asleep, the dying flame beside her foreshadowing her doom.


Interpretations

The French scholar Colombe Couëlle, who has written extensively on Leroux, notes his austere aesthetic sensibility, which set him apart from the more colorful ''Néo-Grecs'' such as Gérôme or the "more powerful but much less refined" Boulanger:
The ancient world of Leroux is not very luminous in its colors. Sanctuaries with darkened tones, scenes of interiors drowned in darkness, twilight landscapes. The Mediterranean sky hardly enters the painter's canvases. He focuses his work on the attitudes, the gestures of the women who run through his compositions. He enters into intimacy with them through a sieving of light, as if he had an indispensable filter between their time and his own, to better grasp the essence of their existence.
In a similar vein, an American contemporary of the artist, Lucy H. Hooper, described Leroux's paintings as "dream-children; they come from the past; they are born of the mythical atmosphere that envelopes the regions of antiquity. It is for this reason that his works never show at their best in the Salon. Surrounded by the glow and glare of droning or inexperienced colourists, half of their aërial charm is lost."Hooper (1880). The English critic
Philip Gilbert Hamerton Philip Gilbert Hamerton (10 September 1834 – 4 November 1894) was an English artist, art critic and author. He was a keen advocate of contemporary printmaking and most of his writings concern the graphic arts. He was an important theorist ...
wrote in 1892: "Of all contemporary French painters, the one who is most in harmony with antiquity itself, and who most constantly dwells upon it, is M. Hector Leroux...Leroux has not that strong realism which gives such a peculiar interest to the restoration of antique life by Mr. Alma-Tadema, his art is more a poetical souvenir of a vanished past than an actual realisation of it."Hamerton, p. 35. Couëlle sees in Leroux's work a manifestation of the 19th century's paradoxical view of paganism, torn between "admiration and condemnation." While Leroux is "attentive and respectful of these women who are graceful and serious, holders of a secret about the past," he also see in the Vestals' "condemnation to a long chastity" and in the punishments meted out to them "the victims of a cruel religion. George Landow saw in ''Croyantes'' "a moving image of pagans at prayer before an idol," wherein Leroux "simultaneously dignified pagan belief and removed the privileged position Christianity presumably held in the mind of the spectator." About the same painting,
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 ...
asked, "Will the miracle happen?" and answered in the affirmative: "
Hygieia Hygieia is a goddess from Greek mythology (more commonly spelled Hygeia, sometimes Hygiea; ; or , or ). Hygieia is a goddess of health ( – ''hugieia''), cleanliness and hygiene. Her name is the source for the word "hygiene". Hygieia devel ...
will not let this charming patient so full of faith die, and will save her for the honor of polytheism." Leroux himself expressed an equivalency between Christian and pagan miracles in explaining how he came to paint two different versions of the miraculous arrival of the statue of the goddess Athena atop the acropolis of Athens. The final version of ''Minerve Poliade sur l'Acropole d'Athènes'', shown at the Paris Salon of 1878, depicts the statue appearing amid clouds of vapor, and, writes Hooper,
three young girls, the sole witnesses of the miracle. One stands in wild amazement with uplifted arms, another hides her face in terror, a third crouches on the ground. As originally designed, the canvas was crowded with figures in various attitudes of adoration or of dismay. "But," said M. Leroux, "on mature consideration, it seemed to me best that this ancient miracle, like more modern ones, should have but few witnesses, therefore I laid my first canvas aside and reproduced the whole scene anew."
In as literal a fashion as Leroux depicted the raising of Lazarus in 1857, so too he depicted the miracle stories of
Tuccia Tuccia (3rd-century BC), was an ancient Roman Vestal Virgin. Its supposed by her nomen that she belonged to the Gens Tuccia. She is known for an incident in which her chastity was questioned by a spurious accusation. The punishment for vestal vi ...
and
Claudia Quinta Quinta Claudia was a Roman matron said to have been instrumental in bringing the goddess Cybele, "Great Mother" of the gods from her shrine in Greek Asia Minor to Rome in 204 BC, during the last years of Rome's Second Punic War against Carthage. ...
, Vestals accused of being unchaste; each proved her innocence by a supernatural act, one carrying water in sieve, the other pulling a ship up the Tiber. Louis-Michel Gohel sees in Leroux's Vestals "an image of ''la femme mortifère'' that prefigures those of
Symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...
painting. There is more than one link between the nuns of
John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest s ...
digging the graves of '' The Vale of Rest'' or the white shadow embarking on
Arnold Böcklin Arnold Böcklin (16 October 182716 January 1901) was a Swiss Symbolism (arts), Symbolist Painting, painter. His five versions of the ''Isle of the Dead (painting), Isle of the Dead'' inspired works by several late-Romantic composers. Biography ...
's ''Isle of the Dead'' and the Vestals of Leroux. File:Hector Leroux--two versions of Minerve Poliade sur lAcropole d'Athène.jpg, Two versions of ''Minerve Poliade sur l'Acropole d'Athènes'': left, the first version (private collection), and right, the second and final version shown at the Paris Salon of 1878, now at the ,
Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...


Personal life

In 1870, Leroux, residing in Rome, happened to be back in France on a visit when the
Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
broke out. He served in the Francs-tireurs de la Seine alongside fellow artists
Étienne-Prosper Berne-Bellecour Étienne-Prosper Berne-Bellecour (29 June 1838 – 29 November 1910) was a French painter, printmaker, and illustrator. He was known for his war art. Biography Berne-Bellecour was born on 29 June 1838 in Boulogne, France. He studied under Fran ...
, , Alexandre-Louis Leloir,
Jehan Georges Vibert Jehan Georges Vibert or Jean Georges Vibert (30 September 1840 – 28 July 1902) was a French academic painter. Biography He was born in Paris, the son of engraver and publisher Théodore Vibert, and grandson of the influential rose-breeder J ...
, , and the sculptor Joseph Cuvelier. "They fought bravely at Malmaison" in the Battle of Buzenval, where "Leroux had his leg broken by a projectile." Berne-Bellecour depicted the engagement in a painting made five years later. Leroux married Giuditta Clelia Casali, the daughter of his Italian doctor, on November 25, 1871.Gohel, p. 16. Their daughter, Maria Laura Desiderata Le Roux, was born September 14, 1872, in
Dun-sur-Meuse Dun-sur-Meuse (, literally ''Dun on Meuse'') is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Among notable residents was the painter Hector Leroux, who was buried in the cemetery there. History In the 11th century ...
, near
Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...
, in France. She became a painter, studying under her father and then under his friends Lefebre and Henner, debuting at the Paris Salon of 1892. In 1898 she married (1866-1950), a French chocolate manufacturer and later a politician. A son, Nicolà (or Nicolas), was born . A profile of the artist in ''Gil Blas'' published on his birthday in 1886 describes his home and atelier at 26 Rue Lemercier:
The workshop is on the second floor. One climbs a staircase whose steps are covered with Aubusson carpets; earthenware from Delft, Saxony, Rouen, drawings by all modern masters, among whom we notice wonderful sketches by Detaille and Henner, adorn the walls; lamps from Judea and Palestine, hanging from long chains and burning a fragrant oil, throw a strange light onto the stairs, where, thanks to the thickness of the carpets, not a step is heard. Let's enter the workshop....On the grayish walls you can see drawings and paintings executed according to the decorations, frescoes and sculptures that adorn the houses of Pompeii, ornamental studies, bronze and marble statuettes. The weapons and armor used by the gladiators are placed on shelves.
The same article says that Leroux, at age fifty-two,
does not seem his age, and is above average in size, thin, slender; the eye perfectly framed under a thick eyebrow is both incisive and gentle, and one understands at first glance that this man is good and loyal. His critiques, formulated with extreme sincerity, often in an acerbic tone, are always sound and logical...His life is very simple. Morning is devoted to work; the afternoons of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are devoted to his students; young girls of the best circles come to work in his atelier...Hector Leroux is married; he has two children, a twelve-year-old boy and a lovely fourteen-year-old girl. With few exceptions, his evenings are spent with the family.
Clelia LeRoux died in 1892, at the age of thirty-nine.Gohel, p. 25. Hector Leroux died at his son's home in Angers in 1900 at the age of seventy. He was buried in the cemetery of
Dun-sur-Meuse Dun-sur-Meuse (, literally ''Dun on Meuse'') is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Among notable residents was the painter Hector Leroux, who was buried in the cemetery there. History In the 11th century ...
.


Henner's paintings of the Leroux family

Over three decades,
Jean-Jacques Henner Jean-Jacques Henner (5 March 1829 – 23 July 1905) was a French painter, noted for his use of sfumato and chiaroscuro in painting nudes, religious subjects and portraits. Biography Henner was born at Bernwiller (Alsace). He began his stud ...
painted several portraits of Hector Leroux and his family, beginning with a portrait of Leroux in profile wearing a red cap, painted in 1861 when both artists were residing at the
Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...
in Rome. Henner's full-length portrait of Laura Leroux now at the Musée d'Orsay was shown at the Paris Salon of 1898 and purchased by the French State. File:Henner--Hector Leroux.jpg, Hector Leroux, , Musée national Jean-Jacques Henner, Musée Jean-Jacques Henner, Paris File:Henner--Clelia Leroux.jpg, Clelia Leroux, by 1892, ,
Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...
File:Henner--Laura Leroux profile--c1898.jpg, Laura Leroux, , ,
Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...
File:Henner--Laura Leroux--1898.png, Laura Leroux, 1898, Musée d'Orsay, Paris File:Henner--Nicolas Leroux.jpg, Nicolas Leroux, 1884, Musée national Jean-Jacques Henner, Musée Jean-Jacques Henner, Paris


In museums

File:Hector leroux, hercolano, 23 agosto 79, 1881 (cropped).JPG, ''Herculanum, 23 août, an 79'' (1881), Musée d'Orsay


Verdun

The largest collection of Leroux's work has been amassed at the in his hometown of
Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...
. Paintings include his earliest known work, ''Jésus guérissant un paralytique'' (1850); ''Coriolan chez les Volsques'', submitted for the Prix de Rome in 1859; ''Une nouvelle Vestale'' and ''Croyantes'' or ''Invocation à la déesse Hygie'',Two versions of ''Croyantes'' or ''Invocation to the Goddess Hygieia'' are known to exist, both signed by Leroux. Their sizes, materials, and dating may be seen at their respective pages at th
Verdun
an
Yale
museums.
his debut pieces at the
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 ...
of 1863; ''Frère et soeur'', depicting the artist's children, Nicolas and Laura, in ancient Roman costume, shown at the Exposition Universelle (1889), Exposition Universelle of 1889 in Paris; and ''Trois lectrices'' (1891). The museum also holds numerous studies and sketches valuable for their information about finished paintings which can no longer be located.


Paris

The Musée d'Orsay holds three paintings, ''La Résurrection de Lazare'', Leroux's second-place entry to the
Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...
in 1857; ''Funérailles au Columbarium de la maison des Césars, porte Capène à Rome'' (1864) and ''Herculanum, 23 août, an 79'' (1881). In 1889 Leroux painted three panels on Classical themes for the plafond of the Salles des Pastels in the Louvre, ''Vénus visitant Glycère, accompagnée de l'Amour, les Grâces et le cortège de la Jeunesse''; ''Union de la poésie grecque et latine''; and ''Junon au bain''. The Beaux-Arts de Paris, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris holds ''Philoclès dans l'île de Samos'' (1855) and ''Homère demandant l'hospitalité'' (1855), two studies painted while Leroux was a student; a number of student drawings made in the 1850s; and two commissioned copies, ''L'amour sacré, L'amour profane'' (1860, after
Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...
) and ''L'Aurore'' (, after Guido Reni). The panel painting ''L'Eloquence'' (1888) is in the Salon des Lettres of the Hôtel de Ville, Paris, Hôtel de Ville. The Musée des beaux-arts de la ville de Paris in the Petit Palais holds a study for this work. The Grande Chancellerie de la Légion d'Honneur holds ''Nouvelles du dehors'' (1891). The Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP) holds ''Une vue sur Athènes'' (undated).


Elsewhere in France

* ''Adam et Ève retrouvant le corps d'Abel'' (1858), , Carpentras. * ''Sérénade'' (), Mairie de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. * ''A Scene from the Youth of Blaise Pascal'' (1869), Musée Thomas-Henry, Cherbourg. * ''Minerve Poliade sur l'Acropole d'Athènes'' (1878), ,
Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...
. * ''La Vestale Licinia laissant éteindre le feu sacré'' (), Musée Fesch, Ajaccio. * ''Le Collège des Vestales quittant Rome en l'an 390'' (1884), , Saint-Quentin, Aisne. * ''La pierre mystérieuse de Pompei'' (1885), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dunkirk. * ''Lanuzia, vestale'' or ''Suicide de la vestale'' (1895), Musée barrois, Bar-le-Duc. * ''Périclès visitant l'atelier de Phidias'' (1898),
Musée Bonnat-Helleu The Musée Bonnat-Helleu is an art museum in Bayonne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The museum was created in 1901 when Bayonne-born painter Léon Bonnat gave his extensive personal collections of art – notably an exceptional drawing collection ...
,
Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...
.


United States

*''Croyantes'' or ''Invocation to the Goddess Hygieia'' (1862), Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut. * ''Prière à la fièvre'' (1870), Brooklyn Museum, New York City. * ''Vestal Maiden Asleep in a Chair'', drawing inscribed to Samuel Putnam Avery (1879), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. * ''Une gardienne du feu sacré de Vesta'' (undated), Widener University, Widener University Art Museum, Deshong Art Museum, Alfred O. Deshong Collection, Chester, Pennsylvania.


At auction

Leroux's oil on canvas painting of Vestal virgins at the Roman Colosseum (c. 1890; 78x126 cm.; from a private collection in Italy) was auctioned by Dorotheum in Vienna in May 2023 with a result of EUR 24,700, a 21st-century record for the artist.The auction house mistakenly identified the subject of the painting as the Byzantine Empress Theodora (wife of Justinian I), Theodora in the Imperial Box in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. File:Louis Hector Leroux - Vestal virgins at the Roman Colosseum.jpg, Leroux's painting of Vestal virgins at the Roman Colosseum (c. 1890)


References


Sources

* Bénézit, E
(Louis-Hector)"
"Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs", vol III: L-Z, Paris: Librarie Gründ, 1939, pp. 106-107. * Child, Theodore
"The Paris Salon"
''The Decorator and Furnisher'', Vol. 4, No. 3, June 1884, pp. 87-89. * Cook, Clarence. ''Art and Artists of our Time'', New York: Selmar Hess, 1888, vol. I, pp
22-23
* Couëlle, Colombe (2008)
"Hector Leroux (1829-1900). Un peintre du XIXe voué à l'Antique"
''Journée de l'Antiquité 2008'', April 2008, Université de La Réunion, Saint-Denis, La Réunion, pp. 210-245. * Couëlle, Colombe (2009)
"''La pierre mystérieuse de Pompéi'' d'Hector Leroux. Une énigme archéologique dans le goût du XIX e siècle"
''Anabases'', No. 10, 2009, pp. 181-201. * Couëlle, Colombe (2010)
"Désirs d'Antique ou comment rêver le passé gréco-romain dans la peinture européenne de la seconde moitié du XIX e siècle"
''Anabases'', No. 11, 2010, pp. 21-54 * Couëlle, Colombe (2012)
"Le corps antique dans tous ses atours, réinventé par la peinture européenne du XIXe siècle"
''Journée de l’Antiquité et des temps anciens'', April 2012, Saint-Denis, La Réunion, pp. 80-98. * Couëlle, Colombe (2013)
"''Invocation à la déesse Hygie'' d’Hector Leroux (1863). Images de la maladie dans le monde romain"
''Journée de l’Antiquité et des temps anciens'', April 2013, Saint-Denis, La Réunion, pp. 238-259. * Gallet Louis, ''Salon de 1865: peinture, sculpture'', Paris: Le Bailly, 1863
p. 19
* Gohel, Louis-Michel, et. al. ''Louis-Hector Leroux (Verdun 1829-Angers 1900). Peintures et esquisses'', Musées de Bar-le-Duc et Verdun, Imprimerie du Barrois, January, 1988. * Hamerton, Philip Gilbert
''The Present State of the Fine Arts in France''
London: Seeley and Co. Ltd., 1892. * Hooper, Lucy H. (1878)
"The Foreshadowings of the Salon"
''The Art Journal'', New Series, Vol. 4 (1878), pp. 60-61. * Hooper, Lucy H. (1880)
"The Paris Salon of 1880"
''The Art Journal'', New Series, Vol. 6 (1880), pp. 221-222. * Katow, Paul de
"Peintres et Sculpteurs: Hector Leroux"
''Gil Blas'', December 27, 1886, p. 2. * Landow, George P
"Victorianized Romans: Images of Rome in Victorian Painting"
''Browning Institute Studies'', Vol. 12, 1984, pp. 29-51. * Le Pape, Yannick
"L'inspiration et l'imprudence: poésie de l'anticomanie dans la critique d'art du second XIX e siècle"
''Anabases'', No. 26, 2017, pp. 157-174. * Mlochowski de Bélina, Apollo
''Nos peintres dessinés par eux-mêmes: notes humoristiques et esquisses biographiques''
Paris: E. Bernard, 1883. * Montrosier, Eugène
Artistes Modernes, Première Partie: Les Peintres de Genre''
Paris: H. Launette, 1881, pp. 105–8. * Strahan, Earl (1878). Reproductions and essays on ''The Danaides'' and ''The Vestal Tuccia'' i
''The Chefs-d'Oeuvre d'Art of the International Exhibition, 1878''
Philadelphia: G. Barrie., . * Strahan, Earl (1882). "Chapter III: Hector Leroux and the 'Idealists'", pp. 29-46 i
''Études in Modern French Art''
New York: Richard Worthington, 1882.


External links


Leroux, Louis Hector
29 works at POP: la plateforme ouverte du patrimoine {{DEFAULTSORT:Leroux 1829 births 1900 deaths 19th-century French painters French male painters People from Meuse (department) 19th-century French male artists Prix de Rome for painting