Faith ('La foi')
Ary Scheffer (Dordrecht 1795 – Argenteuil 1858)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1836 - 1858
Materials
Oil on copper
Measurements
368 x 305 mm (14 1/2 x 12 in)
Order this imageCollection
Dunham Massey, Cheshire
NT 932386
Caption
Faith is traditionally depicted as a female. She holds the modern devotional book The Imitation of Christ, traditionally thought to be written by Thomas à Kempis in the Netherlands in Latin (around 1418-27) with both hands, her eyes lifted heavenwards.
Summary
Oil painting on copper, Faith ('La foi') by Ary Scheffer (Dordrecht 1795 – Argenteuil 1858), signed. She is holding a devotional book inscribed on the binding: Imitation de J. C.[Jesus Christ], traditionally said to be written by Thomas à Kempis in the 15th century and widely translated from the Latin. Romantic painter Ary Scheffer painted a series of Faust paintings include Margaret at her Wheel, Faust doubting, Margaret at the Sabbat, Margaret leaving Church, The Garden Walk, and Margaret at the Well and two pictures of Goethe's character Mignon in around 1836 - and possibly using his daughter Cornelia as a model - which this picture fits thematically and chronologically.
Provenance
'Probably was bequeathed to my Father by Mrs Vaughan [the sister of Dean Stanley], along with the other contents of her house at Weybridge. She died at the close of the 19th century'; bequeathed to the National Trust with the house, estate and all the contents of Dunham Massey by Roger Grey, 10th Earl of Stamford (1896 - 1976)
Credit line
Dunham Massey, The Stamford Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Ary Scheffer (Dordrecht 1795 – Argenteuil 1858), artist