DOI Heft:
No. 80 (November, 1899)
DOI Artikel:Lees, Frederic: The work of Jean Jacques Henner
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19783#0094
Jean Jacques Henner
THE WORK OF JEAN made a certain amount of progress he left there for
JACQUES HENNER BY Paris t0 enter Drolling's studio, which he had to
FDrm?DTr , rro leave, however, after a certain time, being unable,
possessed as he was 01 little money save what his
There was born of humble peasant mother had given him and a subvention from the
parents in 1829 at Bernwiller, a small Conseil-general of the Haut-Rhin, to pay for his
village in Alsace, in the Arrondissement of Belfort, tuition. He returned to his native place, and up to
a boy who, when he had reached the age at which the time of his mother's death in 1857 painted por-
children generally show signs of an intelligent traits of the people in the district for whatever he
awakening of the faculties, was ever busy with a could get for his work, very much in the same way
pencil. It appeared to be as necessary for him to that Turner did landscapes in the neighbourhood
draw his rude figures as to eat or to sleep; to be of Bushy for half-a-crown and his supper,
perfectly happy and contented with the good people The death of his mother broke any ties which
of Bernwiller, he must feel a pencil between his bound the young painter to his birthplace, so,
fingers and have some image before his eyes or in leaving for Paris, he entered the Ecole des
his brain to represent upon paper. Beaux-Arts. While working there from the living
Little Jean Jacques Henner was placed under model he did a considerable amount of copying
the care of M. Charles GontzwiUer, a drawing- in the Louvre, where the works of Giorgione
master at the Altkirch College, two miles from and Rembrandt in particular had an attraction
Bernwiller. M. GontzwiUer has told us in his for him. But he did not long remain at the
" Souvenirs of Alsace" of his pupil's early life, how Ecole. He entered M. Cabat's studio. And
"he joyfully walked, his satchel upon his back, the when in 1858 the subject for the picture for the
rather long distance which separated the village Prix de Rome was Adam and Eve Finding the
from the school." "But, so as not to tire him Body of Abel, we find him entering the competi-
needlessly," continues the
author of that most charm-
ing book, " his parents
boarded him with a baker
named Landwerlin, who
wore a green coat (after the
fashion of the French) and
short breeches, and whose
excellent wife dressed her-
self in Louis XV. style : - "PfTt/Bflr ^ ~j ■ i JflP1' ^Ss^
bodice and skirt of shot / * "/
silk, silk gloves reaching to ' • ?' jflf! .
the elbow, small embroi- ■ .% v '-'• $ • \
dered velvet bonnet covered / ". \
with little gold sequins, . V ¥ » •' ". \ |
which forms the hebdoma-
dal headdress of well-to-do
Alsasian women and which
are to be seen nowadays X rsv- — ^„ .
only in museums. little ^'Jr^SPP'j
Henner became the spoilt V- : s :;
child of these two good old >**tn? ill JHHHB^c'. •
people, whose patriarchal ' At ^'jmm'' : •MJtr ' ^jgw •
life calls to mind that of ?,- . .. . • X
Darby and Joan." After '^^JfWBf- ' ' *W^f~''***®&B^L
the death of his father, S¥ 'jp ' ' mV- ^^jHjli^J'Kv
young Henner left Altkirch 1 •- -..
for Strasburg, where he . S;v *-■-•.--■»,...
learnt the first elements of
painting. When he had study by j. j. henner
XVIII. No. 80.—November, 1899. 77
THE WORK OF JEAN made a certain amount of progress he left there for
JACQUES HENNER BY Paris t0 enter Drolling's studio, which he had to
FDrm?DTr , rro leave, however, after a certain time, being unable,
possessed as he was 01 little money save what his
There was born of humble peasant mother had given him and a subvention from the
parents in 1829 at Bernwiller, a small Conseil-general of the Haut-Rhin, to pay for his
village in Alsace, in the Arrondissement of Belfort, tuition. He returned to his native place, and up to
a boy who, when he had reached the age at which the time of his mother's death in 1857 painted por-
children generally show signs of an intelligent traits of the people in the district for whatever he
awakening of the faculties, was ever busy with a could get for his work, very much in the same way
pencil. It appeared to be as necessary for him to that Turner did landscapes in the neighbourhood
draw his rude figures as to eat or to sleep; to be of Bushy for half-a-crown and his supper,
perfectly happy and contented with the good people The death of his mother broke any ties which
of Bernwiller, he must feel a pencil between his bound the young painter to his birthplace, so,
fingers and have some image before his eyes or in leaving for Paris, he entered the Ecole des
his brain to represent upon paper. Beaux-Arts. While working there from the living
Little Jean Jacques Henner was placed under model he did a considerable amount of copying
the care of M. Charles GontzwiUer, a drawing- in the Louvre, where the works of Giorgione
master at the Altkirch College, two miles from and Rembrandt in particular had an attraction
Bernwiller. M. GontzwiUer has told us in his for him. But he did not long remain at the
" Souvenirs of Alsace" of his pupil's early life, how Ecole. He entered M. Cabat's studio. And
"he joyfully walked, his satchel upon his back, the when in 1858 the subject for the picture for the
rather long distance which separated the village Prix de Rome was Adam and Eve Finding the
from the school." "But, so as not to tire him Body of Abel, we find him entering the competi-
needlessly," continues the
author of that most charm-
ing book, " his parents
boarded him with a baker
named Landwerlin, who
wore a green coat (after the
fashion of the French) and
short breeches, and whose
excellent wife dressed her-
self in Louis XV. style : - "PfTt/Bflr ^ ~j ■ i JflP1' ^Ss^
bodice and skirt of shot / * "/
silk, silk gloves reaching to ' • ?' jflf! .
the elbow, small embroi- ■ .% v '-'• $ • \
dered velvet bonnet covered / ". \
with little gold sequins, . V ¥ » •' ". \ |
which forms the hebdoma-
dal headdress of well-to-do
Alsasian women and which
are to be seen nowadays X rsv- — ^„ .
only in museums. little ^'Jr^SPP'j
Henner became the spoilt V- : s :;
child of these two good old >**tn? ill JHHHB^c'. •
people, whose patriarchal ' At ^'jmm'' : •MJtr ' ^jgw •
life calls to mind that of ?,- . .. . • X
Darby and Joan." After '^^JfWBf- ' ' *W^f~''***®&B^L
the death of his father, S¥ 'jp ' ' mV- ^^jHjli^J'Kv
young Henner left Altkirch 1 •- -..
for Strasburg, where he . S;v *-■-•.--■»,...
learnt the first elements of
painting. When he had study by j. j. henner
XVIII. No. 80.—November, 1899. 77