The execution of Lady Jane Gray

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Execution of Lady Jane Gray (also Jane Gray) (Paul Delaroche)
The execution of Lady Jane Gray
(also Jane Gray )
Paul Delaroche , 1833
Oil on canvas
246 × 297 cm
National Gallery, London

The execution of Lady Jane Gray (often just Jane Gray ; French Le Supplice de Jane Gray ) is a monumental oil painting by the painter Paul Delaroche . The painting, created in 1833, shows Delaroche's interpretation of the last minutes of the English "Nine Day Queen" Jane Gray . It hangs in the center of the early 19th century French painting room in the National Gallery in London.

The painting shows Jane Gray in a chamber of the Tower before her execution, directed by Sir John Brydges , the Tower constable at the time . The executioner is already waiting on her right, and two grieving women can be seen on the left.

Although the depiction bears little resemblance to the real events 300 years before the painting was made, it made a significant contribution to shaping the public image of the Tower of London and that of Jane Gray. The picture was already a sensation when it was first published in 1834 in the Paris Salon and was discussed throughout Europe. Together with the Princes in the Tower , it is one of the most famous works by Delaroche. It has long been a crowd puller at the National Gallery, but many art historians consider it maudlin and silly.

Image description

The scene takes place in a dark room in the Tower of London. The central figure of the painting is the young Jane Gray, dressed in white, who turns her face towards the viewer. She kneels on a cushion. Hindered from seeing by a blindfold, she feels for the execution block in front of her on which she is to be beheaded. The constable of the tower, an elderly man, gently holds her arms to guide her. To the right of Gray is the hangman, who is quietly waiting with lowered eyes to do his job. To her left are two former servants of the Queen. While one woman, turned away from the viewer, leans elegiacly against a massive column with bowed head and arms raised, the other sits next to it on the floor and seems close to fainting.

The servants wear clothes that match the fashion of the Tudor period, while Grey's dress - its white stands out in the picture - is more modern. It shows far more of the fallen queen's youthful body than a contemporary dress could have done.

Both constables and executioners seem to express sympathy with Jane Gray in their demeanor and facial expression, but this does not seem to dissuade them from their actions.

Under the pad on which Gray is supposed to lay her neck, there is straw to catch the blood. This, as well as the executioner's mighty ax, indicate the imminent execution.

As in his other pictures, Delaroche succeeds in combining classical academic art and modern romantic movement , which the Oxford Dictionary of Art describes as "academic and technically impeccable, but with the aroma of romanticism". Although he used classic stylistic devices and carried out extensive historical studies to create the painting, he succeeded in creating a romantic expression. The painting is designed to have the greatest possible impact and pathos. It shows Gray in her most insecure and most vulnerable moment and aims at the horror of the viewer as well as the effect of the vulnerable, innocent young woman as a defenseless victim.

Emergence

Jane Gray was Queen of England for nine days before being deposed and executed on Tower Green in the Tower of London in 1554 at the age of 16 . Gray, who until then had led an inconspicuous life, was chosen as the only possible Protestant heir to the throne in the context of the religious conflicts in England. After initial hesitation and only after massive pressure from the Protestant party, she ascended the throne, but was only nine days later deposed by her Catholic cousin Maria I and finally executed. The story of the young “Nine Day Queen” has fascinated the English ever since and has led to a rich artistic processing.

Copperplate engraving by Alphonse François after a painting by Paul Delaroche: Marie Antoinette on the way to the Revolutionary Tribunal (1857)

Delaroche himself painted at a time when the bloody events of the French Revolution and its aftermath were still present to most of his contemporaries. A development can be seen in Delaroche's work that is heading towards these events. His work begins with often drastic history painting, whereby he prefers such scenes as the execution of Jane Gray, but in the course of time, thematically and chronologically, approaches the French Revolution more and more. The execution of a reigning monarch alludes to events of this historical period, which Delaroche also explicitly depicts in later years (see illustration).

Delaroche relied on historical sources in addition to his artistic inspiration for the painting. So the story went that Jane Gray calmly went to the execution, quietly spoken a psalm, and put on the blindfold. After that, however, she panicked, looked for the block and stumbled. This scene, about the truth of which historians disagree, is represented by Delaroche. Overall, the painting shows itself to be significantly more influenced by the Protestant propaganda of the 16th century than the comprehensible course of events.

reception

When it was presented at the Paris Salon in 1834, the picture caused a sensation, just like an exhibit there only every few years. Only four years earlier, Louis-Philippe I had gained power from Charles X during the July Revolution . Deposition of kings and transfer of power was a common theme of the time. The assessments of Delaroche's picture, however, were different. While Louis-Philippe saw the events surrounding Jane Gray as the opposite of his own peaceful and legitimate takeover of power, his political opponents used the image's popularity for their own ends. Just weeks after the Paris Salon opened, La Caricature magazine published a caricature showing Louis-Philippe as Constable of the Tower and Libertas as Jane Gray.

Delaroche's picture is an outstanding example of the artistic reinterpretation of history. While Jane Gray has long served as a projection surface for romantic tales of English history, this image began to change in the 19th century. Until then, she was considered a romantic heroine who fights for the right faith and perishes because of it. Delaroche's painting makes a reinterpretation. In his picture, Jane Gray is no longer the combative heroine, but an innocent victim. The picture set off a trend in the course of which Gray was portrayed more and more helplessly and childlike.

Story of the picture

Delaroche sold the painting to the Russian aristocrat Anatole Demidoff at the exhibition in the Paris Salon . An English businessman bought it from him in 1870 and donated it to the National Gallery in 1902. In the decades that followed, the artwork moved between the National Gallery and Tate Gallery several times. After the Thames flood of 1928, which also flooded the Tate, it was considered to be irredeemably destroyed. But it was only damaged. Nevertheless, it disappeared in the museum's depot for several decades. It wasn't until 1973 that the National Gallery changed its mind and restored the painting. When it was first shown again in 1975, it had been completely forgotten by the public. At the time, the National Gallery showed little respect for him or his painter. She publicly announced that the only interesting question about Delaroche's work was why he was so popular during his lifetime.

Initially the picture found its place in a corridor between two galleries of the National Gallery. However, when it was later hung in the early 19th century French painting room, it resulted in a small renaissance for the painter Delaroche. Due to its sheer size of almost two and a half by three meters, the picture dominates the room. In 2010 the National Gallery even dedicated a special exhibition to Delaroche and Jane Gray under the title Painting History: Delaroche and Jane Gray . From March to May 2012 it was on view in the Louvre.

Since Delaroche was one of the most popular painters of his time, each of his pictures was also produced as a copperplate engraving for a wider audience. Delaroche promised Jane Gray to the engraver Paul Mercuri as early as 1834 , but the engraving did not appear until 1857.

literature

  • Stephen Bann: Paul Delaroche. History painted. Reaction Books, London 1997, ISBN 1-86189-007-9 .
  • Stephen Bann, Linda Whiteley: Painting History. Delaroche and Lady Jane Gray. National Gallery Company, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-85709-479-4 (exhibition catalog).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c Bann p. 21
  2. ↑ a b c d Jones
  3. ^ Bann p. 10
  4. ↑ a b Lyonette Felber (ed.): Clio's Daughters. British Women Making History, 1790-1899. Associated University Presses, 2007, ISBN 0-87413-981-3 , p. 115
  5. ^ A b c Albert Boime : Art in an Age of Counterrevolution, 1815-1848. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2004, ISBN 0-226-06337-2 , p. 340
  6. ^ Bann p. 14
  7. ^ Bann p. 20
  8. ^ Tim Barringer: Rethinking Delaroche / Recovering Leighton. In: Victorian Studies. Volume 44, Number 1, 2001, pp. 9–24, here p. 11
  9. ↑ National Gallery: Painting History ( Memento of the original from August 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nationalgallery.org.uk
  10. ^ Exhibition “Un œil sur l'histoire Dessins de Paul Delaroche” from March 8 to May 21, 2012 in the Louvre
  11. ^ Bann p. 17