Oil Painting, 'Catherine de Médici with the Head of Coligny', After Joseph Hornung, Swiss School, 1837-1868

Catherine de Médicis seated at a table, gazing at the head of the Protestant leader Gaspard de Coligny (1517-70), killed during the St Bartholomew's Day massacre.

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend

Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, listed in the 1868 post-mortem register of the contents of his villa in Lausanne (V&A R/F MA/1/T1181) as 'Oil on panel. Catherine de Medici (1519-1589). By John Mostert, or Mostaert. In frame. Dutch. 16th century'; bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, 1868.

Historical significance: This painting was originally catalogued as by Jan Mostaert (ca. 1475-1555) and subsequently ascribed to the young Delacroix by J. Pope-Hennessy. It is in fact a copy of a little known composition preserved in the Musée d'art et d'histoire of Geneva. Another composition deriving from Charles Gleyre's Execution of Major Ravel (1617-1869), may have been made by the same artists, who has not yet been identified, as it presents a similar brushwork. Moreover both paintings originate from the same collection.

History painting, i.e. depictions of non recurring events based on religious, classical, literary or allegorical sources, particularly developed in Italy during the Renaissance (15th-16th centuries). History painting could include religious themes, or depictions of momentous recent events, but the term was most frequently associated with Classical subject-matter. However a renewed impetus was given to religious subjects after the Council of Trent (1545-63), which stipulated new iconographical programmes. The development of art treatises, in which the compositional rules guiding the art of painting were discussed also notably, influenced the evolution of history painting. From around 1600 history painting's principal rivals: still-life, landscape and genre painting began to emerge as independent collectable genres. Furthermore, the Rococo taste for the ornamental in the early 18th century prioritised the decorative quality of history painting, so that subject matters became more entertaining than exemplary. There was a renewed interest in history painting during the Neo-Classical period after which the taste for such pictures faded towards the end of the 19th century when an innovative approach to the image was led by the Symbolists and was developed further by subsequent schools in the early 20th century.

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 of the history scenes produced in Geneva during the 19th century. It shows the queen Catherine de Medici contemplating the head of Coligny. This scene commemorates an important event of the Reformation, when on the night of St Bartholomew's day the Protestants were slaughtered by the Catholics. This work is typical of the history paintings produced in Geneva as they draw especially from the history of the Reformation.

1381-1869