NAVEZ, François-Joseph

Belgian painter. He studied from 1803 to 1808 under Joseph François at the Brussels Académie. While still a student, he won several prizes; the Brussels Société des Beaux-Arts, impressed by his Virgil Reading the Aeneid (untraced), which won first prize at the 1812 Ghent SalonGLOSSARYIn the French language of the 18th and 19th centuries it designated an actual exhibition space, as well as the academic art exhibitions staged in the Salon d'Apollon of the Louvre since 1667. From 1737, the exhibitions took place biennially and, after the French Revolution, annually in the Salon Carré of the Louvre in Paris. Towards the end of the 19th century the official Salon jury was dissolved in order to make way for a committee of state-approved artists, i.e. former Salon members, who created the highly influential Société des Artistes Français., offered him a grant to continue his studies in Paris. From 1813 to 1816 he made rapid progress in the studio of David, with whom he returned to Brussels when the latter was exiled in 1816. The two artists became particularly close, and Navez's works from this time, such as the De Hemptinne Family (1816; Brussels, Musée d'Art ancien) and St Veronica (1816; private collection), strongly reflect David's influence in their technical accomplishment and naturalismGLOSSARYGeneric term for scientific positions supported by natural insights. In fine arts and literature between approximately 1870 and 1900, Naturalism tried to reproduce the reality comprehended through sensory experience as realistically as possible, i.e. without idealising the object, but with scientific precision. In contrast to Realism, which was also based on the accurate description of natural occurrences, Naturalism concerns itself with the sensual dimensions of observation, whereby questions of morality and social criticism come to the fore. The spokesman for literary Naturalism was Emile Zola, who believed the artistic methods provided evidence of human existence..

In 1817, with the backing of David and others, Navez obtained a grant to go to Italy, where he remained until 1821. He was initially at a loss without David but found encouragement among the group of French artists based at the VillaGLOSSARYa residence in the country (in Italy); villas acquired palace-like characteristics from the Renaissance onwards. Medici in Rome: Victor Schnetz, Léopold Robert and François-Marius Granet were among his closest friends there. He became a fervent admirer of Ingres and took an interest in the NazarenesGLOSSARYA group of young, idealistic German painters of the early 19th century who believed that art should serve a religious or moral purpose and desired to return to the spirit of the Middle Ages. The nucleus of the group was established in 1809 when six students at the Vienna Academy formed an association called the Brotherhood of St Luke (Lukasbrüder), named after the patron saint of painting. The name Nazarenes was given to them derisively because of their affectation of biblical dress and hairstyles. They wished to revive the working environment as well as the spiritual sincerity of the Middle Ages, and lived and worked together in a quasi-monastic fashion. In 1810 0verbeck. Pforr, and two other members moved to Rome, where they occupied the disused monastery of S. Isidore. Here they were joined by Peter von Cornelius and others. One of their aims was the revival of monumental fresco and they obtained two important commissions which made their work internationally known (Casa Bartholdy, 1816-17, the paintings are now in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin; and Casino Massimo, Rome, 1817-29). Stylistically they were much indebted to Perugino, and their work is clear and prettily coloured, but often insipid. In general, modern taste has been more sympathetic towards the Nazarenes' simple and sensitive landscape and portrait drawings than to their ambitious and didactic figure paintings. The Nazarenes broke up as a group in the 1820s, but their ideas continued to be influential. Cornelius had moved in 1819 to Munich, where he surrounded himself with a large number of pupils and assistants who in turn carried his style to other German centres. The studio of Overbeck (the only one to remain permanently in Rome) was a meeting-place for artists from many countries; Ingres admired him and Ford Madox Brown visited him. William Dyce introduced some of the Nazarene ideals into English art and there is a kinship of spirit with the Pre-Raphaelites.. His painting accordingly developed a purist streak, although he held fast to the tenets of naturalism learnt from David. Typical of Navez's Roman work are his Hagar and Ishmael (1820; Brussels, Musée d'Art ancien) and his first great biblical subject, Elisha Resurrecting the Son of the Shunamite Woman (1821; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), an imposing and austere work of undeniable monumentality. In Navez's portraits such as Man with a Guitar (1821; Charleroi, Musée des Beaux-Arts) a Romantic sensibility emerges, which is traceable to Ingres, although in others, such as Henri Voordecker (1816; Brussels, Musée d'Art ancien), he was far more vigorous in his handling than Ingres.

After his stay in Italy, he produced compositions, which he set in Italian-style scenes and in which several people featured in more sentimental or nostalgic settings. Jean Portaels (1815-1895), famous orientalist painter was to study under him and in marrying his daughter, became his son-in-law.