Terms and conditions of use
The generosity of the Chevalier Bayard
(Générosité du chevalier Bayard)
(1814)
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
38.1 × 46.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented by Patrick Matthiesen and The Matthiesen Gallery, London to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Victoria, 2011
Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Dumet’s work here is a typical Troubadour Painting, a style that was popular in France during the early 19th century. It takes its name from the popular entertainers of the medieval and Renaissance periods, the times when such romanticised paintings were set. This episode depicts the true story of the Chevalier Bayard, a Knight of the French army who had been wounded during the siege of the Italian city of Brescia in 1512. Bayard was taken by his soldiers to the house of a local nobleman whose family nursed him back to health and were handsomely rewarded. Bayard also gave them money to compensate local nunneries that had been looted by the Frenh. This is a later smaller version of Dumet’s painting of the same subject that he exhibited in the 1808 Salon, for which he was awarded a 2nd class medal.
Artwork Details
Accession Number
2011.401
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Biographical History and Legend Human Figures
Subjects (specific)
charity (philosophical concept) gifts (object genre) knights (landholders) men (male humans) women (female humans)
Provenance
Exhibited Salon, Paris, 1814, no. 370, lent by the artist's family in memory of the artist; private collection, France, before 1996; private collection, New York, before 1996; with The Matthiesen Gallery & Stair Sainty Matthiesen (dealer), London, by 1996 until 2011; presented by Patrick Matthiesen and The Matthiesen Gallery, to the NGV, 2011.
Exhibited: Salon, Paris, 1814, no. 370, lent by the artist’s family in memory of the artist; Romance and Chivalry: History and Literature reflected in nineteenth-century French Painting, The Matthiesen Gallery & Stair Sainty Matthiesen Inc. (touring), 1996–97, no. 21; Napoleon and his age, Nassau County Museum of Art, New York, 28 January– 29 April 2001