Henner

Henner by Frederick Wedmore (1902)

Henner is presented as above all a poet among painters, one who borrows classical mythology or Biblical tradition only lightly, never letting dramatic subject matter overpower his painterly instincts. His gift lies in choice of beautiful themes, fullness of appreciation for form and hue, and harmonious colour combinations rather than in literary or narrative ambition. He is called a great painter of the Nude, ranked for refinement alongside Burne-Jones, yet not sexless, and compared favourably with Benner's "Dormeuse," Ingres's "Source," and Etty's flesh-colour work. His undraped figures often function as a note of colour, such as ivory against olive woodland and turquoise sky, rather than as narrative content. His art is said to solace rather than excite, even in a subject like "Hérodiade," offering refreshment comparable to what David's music did for Saul. Alongside Puvis de Chavannes, he administers pure, high beauty; in "Prayer" his aim is only delicate variation. His landscapes use simple, arbitrary elements (sky, pool, fountain, nymph, cypress, woodland) with noble conventionality, unity, and style, rejecting fussy realism. As a portraitist, he remains reticent rather than striking or modern, perceiving character without emphasis, as in a thoughtful pale face against black hair and olive background, or the "Créole" with Venetian tresses against marble and ivory flesh, always picture before likeness.

By Frederick Wedmore · First published 1902 · Genre: Art Criticism, Essay, Art History · 1,146 words

First lines

The first thing to remember of the painter Henner is that he is above all a poet. Has he then created stories or narrated them pathetically? Has he made it the business of painting to do literary work? He has done nothing of the kind. Even where he has used classical mythology and Biblical tradition as the excuse for his canvases, the derived subject seems to have taken hold of him but lightly; he has been dramatic to the extent to which -- well, shall I say? -- to the extent to which a reciter in a drawing-room is permissibly dramatic -- gracefully indicating action and character, never violently insisting on them. Henner's poetry -- his gift of creating, of idealising, in restrained and refined ways -- is never shown by the usurpation of another's functions. It is shown in part by his choice of beautiful, artistic themes; by the exceptional fulness of his appreciation of lovely form and hue; by the combinations of faultless and harmonious colour which occur upon his canvases; by the associations these somehow evoke; by the high pleasure they bestow. To define it much further is impossible. I feel myself, in describing his art, to be ineffective and faltering; but the analyst does not exist who could account completely for his charm.

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art criticism · essay · 1880s · Victorian aesthetics · French painting · poetry in painting · portraiture · figure painting · landscape painting · nude painting · classical mythology · Biblical subjects

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