This is a replica of the mural in the semi-circular lecture theatre or Salon des Prix of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris (hence the ‘hémicycle’ of the title), executed by Delaroche and four students between 1836 and 1841. It was purchased by the Queen in 1867 from the artist’s husband, Ernest Vinet. Touchingly he wrote in a letter dated 29 November that it gave him great pleasure to see the work go to such a good home, his wife having died ten months earlier (QV Bills 116/13190). Ernest Vinet’s position as first librarian of the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts (to which he was appointed in 1862) will no doubt have ensured that his wife had access to the mural for the frequent visits that this faithful copy of such a complex composition will have required.

Delaroche’s mural was one of the most famous works of art in France – a critic for the Art Journal wrote that it was ‘almost as well known in England as in France, for it is one of the lions of Paris, which no Englishman ever fails to visit’ (1856, p.8). For the Hémicycle and its influence see Haskell 1976, pp. 8-20. The Queen and Prince Albert knew the work through Henriquel-Dupont’s three-part engraving, which won the Médaille D’Honneur at the Salon of 1853. It was one of a number of prints after Delaroche which they purchased in the 1850s, in addition to a photograph (RCIN 830081) of the mural published by Goupils in 1858.

This hémicycle depicts those painters, architects, sculptors and engravers considered by Delaroche and his contemporaries to be the greatest in history. The figures wear clothing of their own era, ranging from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries. While the figures are arranged in natural poses, many in conversation, they are also grouped into formal categories. On the far left are the painters particularly appreciated for their use of colour: Rubens, seated with his arm on a plinth, and Titian, the bearded man wearing a red gown, are particularly recognisable. Next to them are the sculptors including Donatello, Bernard Palissy and Cellini. On the far right are the painters particularly celebrated for their design and draftsmanship. Raphael appears standing on the step, with Michelangelo and the Dominican friar Fra Angelico who stands in the foreground wearing the habit of his Order. Next to these painters are the architects, including Palladio, Bramante and Inigo Jones. In the centre sit the female personifications of Greek, Gothic, Roman and Renaissance art, along with the three most famous artists of the classical world – in the centre the painter Apelles, to his right the architect Ictinus, and to his left sculptor Phidias. At the front in a central position is a female figure representing Fame who hands out laurel wreaths – appropriately for the Salon des Prix, where students received their awards. Many of the portraits are based on self-portraits or on the woodcut illustrations in the 1568 edition of Vasari’s Lives.

Friedrich Overbeck’s Triumph of Religion in the Arts (RCIN 452387) functions as a similar tribute to the old masters, although unlike this picture it also carries a strongly religious message. By far the most significant work of art of this kind in England is the memorial to the Prince Consort, begun in 1863 by the architect George Gilbert Scott. It incorporates a frieze of figures from the worlds of painting, sculpture, architecture and music may have been influenced by Delaroche’s mural. When submitting his designs for approval to General Grey in April 1863, Scott explained that his proposed frieze ‘would be treated something after the manner of Delaroche’s Hémicycle des Beaux-Arts (RA VIC/ ADD H/ 2/490). Another series, known as the Kensington Valhalla and consisting of thirty five mosaic portraits set into the niches of the South Court at the South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria and Albert Museum), was executed in the 1860s.

Signed and dated: Anna Vinet d'apres l'original. 1866.

Text adapted from Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, London, 2010