ABY SOB:EITEL * The Lsfe of Ary Schefer, by Mrs. Grote,
strikes us as being just such a biography of that true-hearted man as he himself would have wished the world to have of him. Written by one who knew him intimately, and cherishes a tender and respectful regret for his loss, it does justice to his mind and character which "were as remarkable as his works are celebrated," and pays to the latter the tribute of a warm but not undiscriminating admira- tion. The book is also to be commended for its brevity ; it tells its tale in 150 pages, and leaves the reader satisfied in the posses- sion of well defined mental images ; whereas, most modern biogra- phers indulge their prolixity in the inverse ratio of the importance of their subject and their own capacity to invest it with in- terest.
Ary Scheffer, the son of a German father and a Dutch mother, was born at Dort in 1795, and his first picture was exhibited in the " salon " at Amsterdam, where it attracted much attention and approbation, although painted before he was quite twelve years old. From his father, who was himself a painter, Ary in- herited the aptitude for art thus early displayed, and also the German cast of his ideality ; from his mother, who devoted much of her time to his general education, he derived his elevation of character and his profound sensibility. On the death of the elder &heifer, about the year 1809-10, his widow, left with scanty means for the support of her three sons, sent the eldest of them, Ary, to Lille to pursue his professional studies under the best teachers to be found there, whilst she was preparing to transport her family to Paris, as the place where their talents could be best developed. A passage from one of the many letters she wrote to her eldest boy, during his brief stay at Lille, is a touching ex- ample of the manner in which noble mothers make noble sons. "If you could but see me kissing your portrait, laying down and taking it up again, and with tears in my eyes calling you my darling ! my, beloved son ! you would then feel what it costs to use sometimes the stern language of authority, and to cause you some moments of pain. I always cherish the hope of seeing you one day take your place among the first painters of the age and even of any age. Work diligently, above all be modest, and when you can say that you surpass others, then compare what you have done with .mature herself, and with the ideal of your own mind, and this comparison will hinder you from giving way to pride and presumption."
"Those," says Mrs. Grote, "who knew Ary Scheffer, will, I think, join in admitting that his mother's admonition, to avoid the effects of pride and presumption, was respected to the letter." In the year 1811, Ary became the pupil of Guerin, the painter then most in repute in Paris as a teacher, and under him the young student and his brother Henry acquired a certain amount of technical knowledge essential to the practice of the art. But the teacher was a slavish disciple of a bad school, that of Louis • Memoir of the Life of An/ Scheirer. By Mn. Grote. Published by John Murray.
David, and another unfavourable circumstance was that the ex- penses which Madame &heftier incurred for her children pressed. so severely upon her income, that Ary was compelled to paint for profit before he was eighteen years of age. The number of his productions at this period, Mrs. Grote believes to have been "pro- digiously great." Do not these facts go some way towards ac- counting for Ary Scheffer's chief deficiencies as an artist ?—those relating to colour and anatomical precision—deficiencies of which he was fully conscious, but which no diligence in after life could. enable to repair ? Fortunately for him, soon after he began to receive his professional education amidst the ruins of an ex- hausted school, France, relieved from "the dreadful compression" of the first imperial reign, became pervaded by influences tending to emancipate a new generation from all the mannerisms of its predecessors, and. to evoke new efforts after excellence in every held of creative intellect. "The classic school everywhere gave way to the romantic ; the conventional, again, to the sentimental and passionate. Victor Hugo in dramatic literature, B,ossini in lyric music, Gericault and Delacroix in painting—these led the van of the new movement. The young Ary also tried his hand, and in 1819 exhibited his picture of Les Bourgeois de Calais,' in which was discerned an evident intention to break through old. traditions, and to aim rather at compositions clothed in ex- pression and feeling." A year earlier, Scheffer was employed at the Chateau de la Grange, in painting the portrait of its owner, General Lafayette ; and here, admitted, almost as a member of the family, to the society of its distinguished visitors, he sympathized ardently with their hostility to the retrograde policy of the Government. At first, the opposition pursued a course of strictly " constitutional " mea- sures, but soon they organized throughout France the secret so- ciety of the Charbonniers or Carbonari, and the three brothers Scheffer joined. the general confederation, Ary becoming a mem- ber of the "haute vente," or supreme committee, of which Lafay- ette was president. Ary and Henri were actively engaged in the conspiracy of Befort in 1822, and Arnold in that at Marseilles, and were involved in dangers from which they escaped only by extraordinary good fortune. Their mother was privy to these proceedings, but did not forbid. her sons to do what they believed to be their duty ; and this, says one of the brothers, "was a proof of maternal affection exalted to the highest degree, for the death of any one of us would have been her own." Ary was among those who contributed most largely to the Charbonniers' secret service fund, and this obliged him to work incessantly, as he did to the end of his days, for money which he coveted only for the sake of others. He not only filled a father's place in his own family, as his friend M. Viardot says of him, "but from this period—as in fact during the:whole of his life—he was regarded as the holder of a stock-purse into which all might dip their hands when money was wanted. Friends, brother artists, all who were in need, had recourse to Scheffer s kind aid, for to no application could he turn a deaf ear." It is not surprising, therefore, that he died poor, notwithstanding his very large earnings and the moderation of his personal and domestic expenditure. His bio- grapher has reason to believe that, in the form of money savings, he did not possess in 1858 a sum equal to half-a-year's income usually arising from his painting. In 1826, Ary Scheffer was engaged to instruct the children of the Duke and Duchess of Orleans in drawing and painting, and gradually became the familiar and attached friend of the family. A recent French writer has thought fit to call him "le com- plaisant servitenr d'une famine royale bourgeoise" ; but in such a relation, says his English biographer, "it was morally impos- sible that Ary Scheffer could stand towards any family, royale, or roturiere ; and she illustrates the self respect and indepen- dence of the young painter by an anecdote "which may be relied upon as authentic
During one of the lessons which, at a later stage, Scheffer was giving to the children of the Hovel family, one of the brothers forgot the respect due to the master, and Used seine unbecoming expressions towards him. Scheirer banished the offending Prince from the lesson. The Queen inter- posing to obtain a remission of this penalty, &heifer resigned his appoint- ment. The brothers and sisters were so grieved and discomposed at the loss of their master, that they begged and entreated him to resume his position ; yet he was inexorable, until the King adding his own earnest endeavours, Scheirer was induced to give way, and he presided anew over their artistic studies. But he made it a condition that the mutinous pupil should never more join in the lesson, and be was, accordingly, excluded. I am afraid it must be added that this incident was long remembered by both parties."
Scheffer was among the most active combatants on two of the three memorable days of July, 1830. On the morning of the third, he was surprised by a visit from M. Thiers, and a request that he would accompany the latter to Nenilly to deliver a com- munication to the Duke of Orleans from the heads of the popular party. He consented at once, and it is a curious fact that he, who was the first to convey to Louis Philippe the offer of the crown of France, was the very man to whom it happened. eighteen years later by pure accident that, as an officer of the National Guard, he was called upon to walk by the dethroned monarch's side across the garden of the Tuileries, and hand him into the job coach which bore him away from his capital never more to return. Almost with the accession of the "citizen king" began for &heifer that series of political disappointments which embittered all his remaining years, and combined with many per- sonal sorrows to make him lay down the hurthen of life not un- willingly at the age of sixty-three. Still his devotion to his art remained unabated to the close, his toil as unremitting as ever ; and, whilst his ability as an inventor and designer showed. no
symptom of decay, it appears to Mrs. Grote that in his latter days "his management of the brush may be said to have become more experienced and dexterous ; insomuch that it is quite conceivable that had he lived he might have produced works surpassing in execution those which remain to us."
The anguish and, depression of spirit occasioned by the extinc- tion of all Scheffer's hopes for France predisposed him to heart disease, and the malady was developed. in 1853 by his eight months' anxious attendance on his dying brother Arnold, by whose bedside he habitually passed the night, while he allowed himself no relaxation of his daily labours. In the spring of 1856, he lost his beloved friend, Augustin Thierry, whose bedside he never quitted for the last two days, and in the summer of that year his wife was taken from him. "The five months which fol- lowed upon this event were with Scheirer months of blank depres- sion, almost of prostration . . . . and for, probably, the first time in his history he passed his days unprofitably, listlessly." At last, he "seemed to arouse himself by a strong effort, and he began, gradually, to resume his customary avocations." He was much revived by a long visit to England in the following year, during which he painted a portrait of Queen Marie Amerie, and was scarcely less surprised than enchanted by the treasures of art he beheld in the Manchester Exhibition. On Scheffer's return to Paris, his friends there were cheered, as those in England had been by the improvement perceptible in his looks and energies ; but then came the death and burial of Manin, with nearly fatal effect for Scheffer. Scarcely was he convalescent from the dan- gerous illness into which he was cast by these events, when the unlooked-for tidings of the death of the Duchess of Orleans reached him early in May. Instantly he resolved to attend her funeral, though he had been urgently advised to shun all occasion for bodily exertion or painful excitement of his feelings. To the remonstrances of a friend who told him he must be mad to think of such a journey, he replied, " Bah ! bah ! I know all you have got te say to me on that score, but it is useless—my mind is made ; I have a sacred duty to perform, and nobody in the world shall stop me." He fulfilled that duty, accompanied as it was with circumstances as unfe.vourtole as any which a man far gone in heart disease could well encounter. When he reached London on the return journey, he was seized with a paroxysm of his malady, but recovered sufficiently to enable his friends to satisfy the longing to get out of England which had taken entire pos- session of him. " L'air lourd de Londres me tue !" was his continual cry. "By the extreme care and precautionary address of his companions, he was enabled to reach the country-house from whence he had departed, a month before, to make the sacrifice of prudence to lofty sentiment. To find himself once more in France, and in his own home, and that 'home' offer- ing so much of agrement,' was for Scheffer an unspeakable comfort. The balmy air of full summertide, and the quietude of his retreat, coupled with the presence of those most dear to him—all combined to shed a momentary gleam of enjoyment over the brief space of existence which Scheffer had yet to traverse. And whilst he did not disguise from himself the improbability of his recovering this blow, he felt the inward satisfaction arising from having performed, at all risks, what he considered his bounden duty. This reflection was beyond all else valuable in Ary'a eyes, and formed one of the consolations of his now rapidly declining days. Duringthe first week which succeeded his return to the Pavillon Roquelaure,' (such was the designa- tion borne by the house at Argenteuil), Scheffer seemed to suffer somewhat 11:138 from difficulty of respiration, and to regain at least a tranquil, if not a aheerful frame of mind. He even applied himself to the easel, for several days, at intervals—painting upon the work which I have spoken of above— the Angel Announcing the Resurrection of Jesus.' But the enfeebled organs connected with the heart grew, daily, more and more incapable of their functions, and it was soon perceived, by his afflicted family, that Scheffer's precious life was ebbing to its close. A few days later, all hope had ceased, and on the 15th of June, this great and virtuous man yielded up his last breath. It was a beautiful summer's evening, the calm splendour of which irradiated the scene of his departure from earth. Not more calm, however—not more serene, was the aspect of the heavens, than were the conscience and pure spirit of him who thus passed to his eternal rest, to suffer, to strive, no more !"
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