Painting, Oil On Canvas After François-joseph Navez (1787-1869)

- Painting after François-Joseph Navez's "Agar and Ishmael", 19th-century oil on canvas from 1819.

- François-Joseph Navez, born November 16, 1787 in Charleroi and died October 11, 1869 in Brussels, was a Belgian neo-classical painter and portraitist. A brilliant pupil of Jacques-Louis David, Navez was awarded a scholarship to study in Rome in 1817. There, he painted the original picture (currently in the Amsterdam Museum, visible at this link), of which the one shown here is a copy. It is a biblical scene depicting Hagar and her son Ishmael.

- The story as told in the Old Testament is as follows. Sara, the wife of the patriarch Abraham, is barren. She asks her servant Hagar to give Abraham an heir. A son is born: Ishmael, but Sara miraculously becomes pregnant and gives birth to Isaac. She drives Hagar and Ishmael out of the house. Wandering in the desert, promised certain death, they are rescued by the angel sent by God.

- The painting presented here, of a similar high quality to that of Navez, offers a highly faithful reproduction. A representative of Belgian neoclassicism, Navez's painting follows the classical precepts of his master David, as in this wisely composed composition where the group of figures forms a pyramid, but at the same time infuses it with sensitivity. Indeed, after his stay in Italy, his work would remain marked by the study of the Italian masters. He renounced tepid beauty, achieving a high level of naturalism. What sets him apart is grandeur and grace. His painting is firm and solid. His drawing is of great purity. As here in his Agar and Ishmael, where Agar's prim grace pierces the picture. Colorful textiles are treated with great skill, right down to the trimmings on her veil. What is most disturbing in this painting is the grandeur that Hagar exudes as she pleads. Hagar's wet eyes, combined with Ishmael's attitude of holding his mother, give this painting a very tender feeling, not to mention the remarkable vigor of the colors. Cool shades of blue, green, gray and white combine with warm orange and red to create a harsh, captivating symphony.

- This painting alone can sum up Navez's successes. There's the reference to what would come to be considered his masterpiece, Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert, painted in 1820 and offered in Brussels in 1840, with the same two protagonists, and also the reference to his career as an eminent portraitist with a close-up frame on these half-body figures.

- Good condition, Charles X-style gilded wooden frame.

- Dimensions (unframed): 61.5 cm wide, 77 cm high - Dimensions (framed): 80.5 cm wide, 97.5 cm high