| Hendrik Scheffer | |
| Birth Date: | 25 September 1798 |
| Birth Place: | The Hague, Netherlands |
| Death Place: | Paris, France |
| Nationality: | Dutch, French |
| Field: | Painting |
| Training: | Pierre-Narcisse Guérin |
| Movement: | Romanticism |
Hendrik Scheffer (The Hague, 25 September 1798 – Paris, 15 March 1862) was a Dutch painter in the Romantic tradition who lived in France for most of his life. In France he is usually known as Henri Scheffer.
Scheffer was the younger brother of painter Ary Scheffer, son of Johann Baptist and Cornelia Scheffer and grandson of Arie Lamme. When his father died in 1809, his mother first moved to Brussels and in 1811 to Paris.
His daughter Cornélie married French philosopher Ernest Renan. Their son Ary Renan also became a painter.
Scheffers, like his brother Ary, was a pupil of Pierre-Narcisse Guérin.
His work was much sought after in his lifetime. He mainly painted genre pieces and portraits which were finely crafted. His work was exhibited at the Salon from 1824 onwards and was heavily criticised by Charles Baudelaire[1] and Théophile Gautier.[2]
Scheffers best known work is probably a picture portraying the arrest of Charlotte Corday (now in the Musée Lambinet), some selected others:
Selected other works:
His work has been copied many times in engravings.
The Dordrechts Museum has a section dedicated to the work of the Scheffers (mainly his brother Ary).
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes studied with him for a time.
He was made a Chevalier in the Legion of Honor on 8 August 1837.[3]
Attribution: