The Musée des beaux-arts Thomas Henry is a museum at
Cherbourg-en-Cotentin
Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (, ; Norman: ''Tchidbouo'') is a port city in the department of Manche, Normandy, northwestern France, established on 1 January 2016.� Musée des beaux-arts Thomas Henry », ''www.ville-cherbourg.fr''
History
It was formed after a series of anonymous donations to the city between 1831 and 1835, totalling 163 paintings and later revealed to have been made by Thomas Henry, town councillor and art criticFrance Huser, « Le mécène de la Normandie », ''Le Nouvel Observateur'' n°2022, 6 August 2003 — having lost his two sons, he wanted to allow the city's young people to gain an education in art. These young people included
Jean-François Millet
Jean-François Millet (; 4 October 1814 – 20 January 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realis ...
, who copied paintings in the museum.
In 1835, a museum was formed from these 163 paintings, including works by Italian 'primitives' such as
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico, O.P. (; ; born Guido di Pietro; 18 February 1455) was a Dominican friar and Italian Renaissance painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Giorgio Vasari in his ''Lives of the Artists'' as having "a rare and perfect talent" ...
(''The Conversion of Saint Augustine'') and
Filippo Lippi
Filippo Lippi ( – 8 October 1469), also known as Lippo Lippi, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Quattrocento (fifteenth century) and a Carmelite priest. He was an early Renaissance master of a painting workshop, who taught many paint ...
(''The Burial''). The foundational collection was completed by gifts from other inhabitants of Cherbourg, including capitaine Troude (1844), Armand Le Véel (a sculptor and curator of the museum) and the Ono family (who gave Millet's work in 1915). From 1965, the city decided to supplement private donations and state funding for acquisitions, in favor of the Millet fund.
Initially housed in the Hôtel de ville, the museum re-opened in a dedicated cultural centre in 1983, alongside the bibliothèque municipale Jacques-Prévert, on the site of the city's former grain Halles. It received 30,554 visitors in 2009, compared to 18,957 visitors in 2007. Fréquentation des musées de France '', Museostat 2009, Direction générale des Patrimoines, Département de la politique des publics, 2010
Collection
The museum's collection is wide-ranging and it has been nicknamed the 'little
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 ...
'. It notably includes a large number of paintings and sculptures by local artists. The most important works include:
* early Italian artists, including
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico, O.P. (; ; born Guido di Pietro; 18 February 1455) was a Dominican friar and Italian Renaissance painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Giorgio Vasari in his ''Lives of the Artists'' as having "a rare and perfect talent" ...
(''The conversion of Saint Augustine'') ;
* Italian painters from the Renaissance to the 18th century, including
Filippino Lippi
Filippino Lippi (probably 1457 – 18 April 1504) was an Italian Renaissance painter mostly working in Florence, Italy during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance. He also worked in Rome for a ...
Domenico Puligo
Domenico Puligo (1492–1527) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, active in Florence. His real name was ''Domenico di Bartolomeo Ubaldini''.
He trained under Ridolfo Ghirlandaio and acted as an assistant to Andrea del Sarto, whom he also ...
,
Jacopo Bassano
Jacopo Bassano (c. 1510 – 14 February 1592), known also as Jacopo dal Ponte, was an Italian painter who was born and died in Bassano del Grappa near Venice, and took the village as his surname. Having trained in the workshop of his father, Fran ...
Francesco Solimena
Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific Italian Baroque painter, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen.
Biography
Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino in the province of Avellino.
H ...
,
Giovanni Paolo Pannini
Giovanni Paolo, also known as Gian Paolo Panini or Pannini (17 June 1691 – 21 October 1765), was an Italian Baroque painter and architect who worked in Rome and is primarily known as one of the '' vedutisti'' ("view painters"). As a painter, Pan ...
;
* Flemish and Dutch art, including
Paul Bril
Paul Bril (1554 – 7 October 1626) was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish painter and printmaker principally known for his Landscape art, landscapes.Nicola Courtright. "Paul Bril." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. ...
,
Jacob Jordaens
Jacques (Jacob) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678Jacques Jordaens in the Netherlands Institute for Ar ...
Jan van Kessel, senior
Jan van Kessel the Elder or Jan van Kessel (I) (baptized 5 April 1626, Antwerp – 17 April 1679, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter active in Antwerp in the mid-17th century. A versatile artist, he practiced in many genres including studies of ...
,
Jacob van Loo
Jacob van Loo (1614 – 26 November 1670) was a Painting, painter of the Dutch Golden Age, chiefly active in Amsterdam and, after 1660, in Paris. Van Loo is known for his conversational groupings; particularly his mythological and biblical scenes ...
,
Jan Frans van Bloemen
Jan Frans van Bloemen (baptized 12 May 1662 - buried 13 June 1749)Vici 1974, pp. 222, 225. was a Flemish landscape painter mainly active in Rome. Here he was able to establish himself as the leading painter of views ( vedute) of the Roman count ...
,
Melchior d'Hondecoeter
Melchior is the name traditionally given to one of the biblical Magi appearing in the Gospel of Matthew. There are many notable people with this name, or close variations.
As a first name
* Melchior Anderegg (1828–1914), Swiss mountain guide
...
,
Rachel Ruysch
Rachel Ruysch (3 June 1664 – 12 October 1750) was a Dutch still-life painter from the Northern Netherlands. She specialized in flowers, inventing her own style and achieving international fame in her lifetime. Due to a long and successful car ...
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( , ; late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contempor ...
Antonio Palomino
Acislo Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco (165513 April 1726) was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, and a writer on art, author of ''El Museo pictórico y escala óptica'', which contains a large amount of important biographical mate ...
(''Saint Sebastian'');
* French 17th and 18th century painters, including
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...
(''Pietà''),
Philippe de Champaigne
Philippe de Champaigne (; 26 May 1602 – 12 August 1674) was a Duchy of Brabant, Brabant-born French people, French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French art, French school. He was a founding member of the Académie royale de pein ...
Simon Vouet
Simon Vouet (; 9 January 1590 – 30 June 1649) was a French painter who studied and rose to prominence in Italy before being summoned by Louis XIII to serve as Premier peintre du Roi in France. He and his studio of artists created religious and ...
,
Jacques Stella
Jacques Stella (1596 – 29 April 1657) was a French painter, a leading exponent of the neoclassical style of Parisian Atticism.
Life
Stella was born in Lyon. His father was François Stella, a painter and merchant of Flemish origin, but h ...
,
Charles de La Fosse
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning wa ...
,
Hyacinthe Rigaud
Jacint Rigau-Ros i Serra (; 18 July 1659 – 29 December 1743), known in French as Hyacinthe Rigaud (), was a Catalan-French baroque painter most famous for his portraits of Louis XIV and other members of the French nobility.
Biography
Rigau ...
Jean-Baptiste Oudry
Jean-Baptiste Oudry (; 17 March 1686 – 30 April 1755) was a French Rococo painter, engraver, and tapestry designer. He is particularly well known for his naturalistic pictures of animals and his hunt pieces depicting game. His son, Jacques-Cha ...
,
Pierre Subleyras
Pierre Hubert Subleyras (; November 25, 1699 – May 28, 1749) was a French painter, active during the late-Baroque and early- Neoclassic period, mainly in Italy.
Life
Subleyras was born in Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, France.
He left France in 1728, ...
,
Jean Siméon Chardin
Jean Siméon Chardin (; November 2, 1699 – December 6, 1779) was an 18th-century France, French List of painters, painter. He is considered a master of still life, and is also noted for his genre works, genre paintings which depict kitch ...
,
Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting.
Early life
Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed his own ...
,
Joseph Vernet
Claude-Joseph Vernet (; 14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Carle Vernet, was also a painter.
Life and work
Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Vernet (1689–1753) ...
,
Hubert Robert
Hubert Robert (; 22 May 1733 – 15 April 1808) was a French painter in the school of Romanticism, noted especially for his landscape paintings and capricci, or semi-fictitious picturesque depictions of ruins in Italy and of France.Jean de Cayeux ...
, and
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 ...
.
* the second most important collection of paintings and drawings by
Jean-François Millet
Jean-François Millet (; 4 October 1814 – 20 January 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realis ...
after that of the
musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
;
* several paintings by Guillaume Fouace, sculptures by Armand Le Véel, and works by artists from the Nord-Cotentin or represented there (including ''Gatteville'' by
Paul Signac
Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, with Georges Seurat, helped develop the artistic technique Pointillism.
Biography
Paul-Victor-Jules Signac was born in Paris on ...
), and other 19th century French painters, including Théodore Rousseau and
Eugène Boudin
Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 1824 – 8 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, ...
.
Image:Fra angelico - conversion de saint augustin.jpg, ''The Conversion of St Augustine'' by
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico, O.P. (; ; born Guido di Pietro; 18 February 1455) was a Dominican friar and Italian Renaissance painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Giorgio Vasari in his ''Lives of the Artists'' as having "a rare and perfect talent" ...
Image:Jean-François Millet (II) 009.jpg, ''Portrait of Armand Ono'' by
Jean-François Millet
Jean-François Millet (; 4 October 1814 – 20 January 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realis ...
Image:Fouace - départ pour jersey.jpg, ''Leaving for Jersey'' by Guillaume Fouace
Temporary exhibitions
The musée Thomas-Henry has held a biennial exhibition of comic art since 2000 :
*2000 :
Enki Bilal
Enki Bilal (born Enes Bilal; born 7 October 1951) is a French comic book creator and film director.
Biography Early life
Bilal was born in Belgrade, PR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia, to a Czech mother, Ana, who came to Belgrade as child from Karlovy ...
*2002 :
François Schuiten
François Schuiten (; born 26 April 1956) is a Franco-Belgian comics, Belgian comic book artist. He is best known for drawing the series ''Les Cités Obscures''.
Biography
François Schuiten was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1956.De Weyer, Geert ...
Hugo Pratt
Ugo Eugenio Prat (15 June 1927 – 20 August 1995), better known as Hugo Pratt, was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as '' Corto Maltese''. He was indu ...