The orphans

Ary Scheffer, a Dutch-French painter of the Romantic school, was born on February 10, 1795, in Dordrecht, Netherlands, into a family deeply rooted in the arts. His father, Johan Bernard Scheffer, was a professional painter, and his mother, Cornelia Lamme, hailed from a family of artists and was a miniaturist painter herself. The family's move to Paris in 1811 marked a pivotal turn in Scheffer's career, where he formed lasting friendships with prominent figures like Eugène Delacroix and Théodore Géricault, becoming part of a socially and politically engaged artist circle that supported the July Revolution of 1830. Scheffer's artistic journey was marked by significant success and recognition, both socially and materially. His circle included illustrious personalities such as the Marquis de Lafayette, George Sand, and composers Franz Liszt, Charles Gounod, and Frédéric Chopin, the latter of whom he portrayed in three distinct portraits. Despite his close ties with the July Monarchy's royal family, which led to challenges during the Second Republic in 1848, Scheffer continued to thrive, eventually becoming a naturalized French citizen in 1850. His oeuvre, rich in Romantic themes, spanned political revolutions, literary subjects, and, increasingly after 1840, religious motifs, reflecting his adaptability and depth as an artist until his death on June 15, 1858, in Argenteuil.