Not currently on display at the V&A

The Knight's Funeral

Oil Painting
ca. 1830-ca. 1840 (painted)
Artist/Maker

Baron Hendrik Leys (1815-1869) was a Belgian painter who trained with Mathieu Ignace Van Brée in Antwerp and drew on the Romantic works of Gustaf Wappers. He painted typically Romantic subjects, ranging from heroic scenes of war and brigandage to scenes of daily life such as weddings and country festivals. From 1839 he distanced himself from the Romantic school and moved towards a more sober style. His desire for historical and psychological truthfulness soon replaced the pathos and sentimentality of his earlier works. Seeking to 'resurrect' the spirit and atmosphere of 16th-century Antwerp, Leys painted historical events or scenes of everyday life, all of which demonstrate a scrupulous observation of contemporary life. Moving away from Romanticism Leys was likely influenced by the French Realists Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet. On the other hand, his study of 16th-century Flemish and German painters also contributed to the development of his personal style, which mingled archaistic rigidity with realistic observation. Though difficult to ascertain due to condition, the subject and mood of 1560-1869 appears to belong to Leys earlier Romantic phase of the 1830s.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleThe Knight's Funeral (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Oil on mahogany panel
Brief description
Oil painting, 'The Knight's Funeral', Hendrik Leys
Physical description
A group of figures kneel and stand around the deathbed of a man in partial armour, his helmet at his side; the picture is largely illegible due to its damaged condition
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 56.8cm
  • Estimate width: 45.7cm
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900, C.M. Kauffmann, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1973
Style
Credit line
Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend
Object history
Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend, 1868
'Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798-1868) was born into a wealthy family, only son of Henry Hare Townsend of Busbridge Hall, Godalming, Surrey. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA 1821). Succeeded to the family estates 1827, when he added 'h' to the Townsend name. He had taken holy orders, but while he always referred to himself as 'Rev.' on the title pages of his books, he never practised his vocation... . Very much a dilettante in the eighteenth-century sense, he moved in the highest social and literary circles; a great friend of Charles Dickens (he was the dedicatee of Great Expectations) with whom he shared a fascination of mesmerism... Bulwer Lytton described his life's 'Beau-deal of happiness' as 'elegant rest, travel, lots of money - and he is always ill and melancholy'. Of the many watercolours and British and continental oil paintings he bequeathed to the V&A, the majority are landscapes. He is the first identifiable British collector of early photographs apart from the Prince Consort, particularly landscape photography, and also collected gems and geological specimens.'

Ref : Parkinson, Ronald, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860. Victoria & Albert Museum, HMSO, London, 1990. p.xix.

Historical significance: Baron Hendrik Leys (1815-1869), a Belgian painter who trained with Mathieu Ignace Van Brée in Antwerp and then with Ferdinand De Braekeleer, drew on the Romantic works of Gustaf Wappers in his earliest pictures and even collaborated with the master on a Spanish Battle Scene, ca. 1832–6 (Brussels, Mus. A. Mod.). He painted typically Romantic subjects, ranging from heroic scenes of war and brigandage to scenes of daily life such as weddings and country festivals. Some of his works reveal the influence of Paul Delaroche, whom he met in Paris in 1835. From 1839 he distanced himself from the Romantic school and moved towards a more sober style. His desire for historical and psychological truthfulness soon replaced the pathos and sentimentality of his earlier works. Seeking to 'resurrect' the spirit and atmosphere of 16th-century Antwerp, Leys painted historical events such as the Re-establishment of Worship in the Church of Onze Liewe Vrouwe in Antwerp (1845; Brussels, Mus. A. Mod.) and the Thirty-day Mass of Berthal de Haze (1854) or scenes of everyday life, all of which demonstrate a scrupulous observation of contemporary life. Moving away from Romanticism Leys was likely influenced by the French Realists Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet. On the other hand, his study of 16th-century Flemish and German painters also contributed to the development of his personal style, which mingled archaistic rigidity with realistic observation. Though difficult to ascertain due to condition, the subject and mood of 1560-1869 appears to belong to Leys earlier Romantic phase of the 1830s.
Historical context
History painting, i.e. depictions of non recurring events based on religious, classical, literary or allegorical sources, particularly developed in the second half of the 17th century in the Netherlands. Although, history painting began in the Netherlands in the late 15th and early 16th centuries with such artists as Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516), Jan Mostaert (ca. 1475-1555) and Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533), it had long been overshadowed by the genre painting. Dutch artists' new interest in naturalism transformed distant history into contemporary scenes of everyday life, situating classical and biblical scenes in Dutch settings with figures in contemporary costume and sometimes even including historicised portraits. The first three generations of history painters in the Northern Netherlands were Roman Catholics who trained in Italy: religious history paintings, mythological themes and scenes from classical history occur indeed in the art of the late Dutch mannerists, the Utrecht caravaggists, the Pre-Rembrandtists, Rembrandt, and his followers. Under the influence of the French Academy of Sculture and Painting and International Classicism, Dutch artists increasingly adopted a restrained controlled style for their depiction of the mid century, a style exemplified by the work of Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). The idealised and classical grace of late Dutch classicism extended well into the 19th century but declined rapidly after around 1850.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Baron Hendrik Leys (1815-1869) was a Belgian painter who trained with Mathieu Ignace Van Brée in Antwerp and drew on the Romantic works of Gustaf Wappers. He painted typically Romantic subjects, ranging from heroic scenes of war and brigandage to scenes of daily life such as weddings and country festivals. From 1839 he distanced himself from the Romantic school and moved towards a more sober style. His desire for historical and psychological truthfulness soon replaced the pathos and sentimentality of his earlier works. Seeking to 'resurrect' the spirit and atmosphere of 16th-century Antwerp, Leys painted historical events or scenes of everyday life, all of which demonstrate a scrupulous observation of contemporary life. Moving away from Romanticism Leys was likely influenced by the French Realists Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet. On the other hand, his study of 16th-century Flemish and German painters also contributed to the development of his personal style, which mingled archaistic rigidity with realistic observation. Though difficult to ascertain due to condition, the subject and mood of 1560-1869 appears to belong to Leys earlier Romantic phase of the 1830s.
Bibliographic references
  • Kauffmann, C.M. Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900 . London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, p. 64, cat. no. 137.
  • G. Van Zype, Henri Leys. Brussels, 1934.
  • Quelques maîtres romantiques belges de Gustaf Wappers à Henri Leys. Exh. cat., ed. A. A. Moerman; Brussels, Musées Royaux B.-A., 1973.
Collection
Accession number
1560-1869

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Record createdFebruary 20, 2007
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