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Catherine de Médicis with the head of Coligny
Hornung, Joseph, born 1792 - died 1870 - Enlarge image
Catherine de Médicis with the head of Coligny
- Object:
Oil painting
- Place of origin:
Geneva (painted)
- Date:
1837-1868 (painted)
- Artist/Maker:
Hornung, Joseph, born 1792 - died 1870 (After)
- Materials and Techniques:
Oil on sycamore panel
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend
- Museum number:
1381-1869
- Gallery location:
In Storage
Joseph Hornung (1792-1870) was born in Geneva. He took drawing lessons with Constant Vaucher but was essentially self-taught in the French Romantic tradition. He was considered the leader of the Geneva school and the most representative painter of the Reformation. He exhibited at the Salon in the Musée Rath, Geneva, as early as 1826 and subsequently at the Royal Academy, London (1839) and the Paris Salon (1831, 1840, 1841, 1843 and 1847). He was praised by the critics and Louis-Philippe and Ary Scheffer were among his admirers.
This painting is a good example the history scenes produced in Geneva during the 19th century.. It shows the queen Catherine de Medicis contemplating the head of Coligny. This scene commemorate an important event of the reformation, when on the night of St Bartholomew's day when the Portestants were slaughtered by the Catholics following the revocation of the 'edict of Nantes' (22 October 1685). This work is typical of the history paintings produced in Geneva as they draw especially from the history of the Reformation.