Joseph Benoit Suvée was the figurehead of Bruges neo-Classicism. From 1771 to 1775 Suvée resided at the “Académie de France” in Rome, where he would later be appointed director. The most important painting that Suvée created during his studies in Rome was Erminia and the Shepherds. This depicts a scene from Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata, an epic poem from 1575 on the conquest of Jerusalem by the crusaders. In the seventh canto the captured Moorish princess Erminia falls in love with Tancredi, the Christian crusader who liberated her. After she finds out that he is wounded, she tries to visit him using a ruse: she disguises herself using the harness of Clorina, a Saracen Amazon whom Tancredi loved. While nearing the crusaders’ camp, she was surprised by a number of guards. Erminia fled and hid on the banks of the River Jordan, where she met an old shepherd and his family. In this peaceful scene she marvels at the peace and happiness of this shepherd family during a terrible war.
| Artist |
Joseph-Benoît Suvée
RKD
|
|---|---|
| Title | Erminia and the Shepherds (after Torquato Tasso) |
| Date | 1776 |
| Period | 18th century |
| Location | Rome TGN |
| Signatures, inscriptions, and markings | Signature, location and year bottom right: J.B. SUVEE.F.ROMA / 1776 . |
| Collection | paintings AAT |
| Object type | oil paintings (visual works) AAT |
| Inventory number | S-191 |
| Acquisition credit |
gift
de Coninck de Merckem, Théodore 1842 |
| Current whereabouts | Work on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/S-191 |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/6926/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300417629
mythologies (religious concept)
AAT
300015636 landscapes AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
11
Christian religion
Iconclass
12I Islam, Mohammedanism Iconclass 22C light Iconclass 22C1 natural light Iconclass 24A8 sunlight Iconclass 25G11 groups of trees Iconclass 25G3 trees Iconclass 26A clouds Iconclass 31A the (nude) human figure; 'Corpo humano' (Ripa) Iconclass 31A235 sitting figure Iconclass 31A71 male sex; man Iconclass 31A72 female sex; woman Iconclass 31AA the (nude) human figure; 'Corpo humano' (Ripa) - AA - female human figure Iconclass 31AA231 standing figure - AA - female human figure Iconclass 31AA235 sitting figure - AA - female human figure Iconclass 31B6211 looking upwards Iconclass 31B6212 looking downwards Iconclass 31D14 adult man Iconclass 31D15 adult woman Iconclass 42G family, relationship, descent Iconclass 44B15122 princess Iconclass 45C14(LANCE) helved weapons, polearms (for striking, hacking, thrusting): lance Iconclass 45C22 armour Iconclass 45C221 helmet Iconclass 46A124 knight Iconclass 47I21111 ox Iconclass 47I213 sheep Iconclass 47I221 herding, herdsman, herdswoman, shepherd, shepherdess, cowherd, etc. Iconclass 47I2211 herd, flock Iconclass 82A(TANCREDES) male literary characters (TANCREDES) Iconclass 82AA(CLORINDE) female literary characters (CLORINDE) Iconclass 82AA(ERMINIA) Erminia Iconclass 83(TASSO, Gerusalemme Liberata) (scenes from) specific works of literature: Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata Iconclass 92C2 (story of) Minerva (Pallas, Athena) Iconclass |
| School / Style | Neoclassical AAT |
| Catalogue descriptif du Musée de la ville de Gand : précédé d'une notice historique / Adolphe Pierre Sunaert. - Gand : E. Vanderhaeghen, 1870 (p. 139-140, cat. 191) |
| Suvée et ses amis à l'Ecole de Rome (1772-1778) / Henry Lemonnier. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] (jg. 30, p. 104-105) |
| Vincent et Suvée / Henry Lemonnier. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] (p. 256) |
| Quelques peintres brugeois de la première moitié du XVIe siecle : I. Jan Provoost / Georges Charles Nicolas Marie Hulin de Loo. - Gand : Ad. Hoste, 1902 (p. 203) |
| J.B. Suvée en het Frans Klassicisme 1743-1897 / Luc Devliegher. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] (jg. 93, p. 142) |
| Les peinture française du classicisme au réalisme / D. Fromont. - Bruxelles : Meddens, 1969 (p. 10 (ill. 8)) |
| Les peintres belges à Rome de 1700 à 1830 / Denis Coekelberghs, Philippe Roberts-Jones. - Rome : Institut Historique Belge de Rome, 1976 (p. 219-220 (ill. 123)) |
| Om en rond het neo-classicisme in België 1770-1830 (tentoonstelling Elsene, Gemeentemuseum, 14.11.1985 - 8.2.1986) / Denis Coekelberghs, Pierre Loze, Alain Jacobs, Antoine Schnapper, Barbara Issaverdens. - Brussel : Société Royale d'Archéologie de Bruxelles, 1985 ; Elsene (Brussel) : Museum van Elsene, 1985 (p. 98-99, cat. 59 (ill. VII)) |
| Kunst: van barok tot neoclassicisme / Paul Philippot. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] (p. 393-394 (ill.)) |
| Enkele aspecten van de Belgische kunst in de 18de en 19de eeuw = Quelques aspects de l'art en Belgique aux XVIIIe et XIX siècles / Denis Coekelberghs. - Bruxelles : Galerie d'Arenberg, 1988 (p. 63-64, nr. 9) |
| 200 jaar verzamelen : Collectieboek Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Arnout Balis, Robert Hoozee, Maximiliaan P.J. Martens, Paul Van Haute. - Gent : Ludion, 2000 (p. 273 (ill. 57), 273) |
| Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : Catalogus schilderkunst ; Deel I: 14de - 18de eeuw ; Deel II: 19de - 20ste eeuw / Robert Hoozee, Johan De Smet, Bruno Fornari, Ruth Monteyne. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2007 (dl. II, p. 316-317 (ill.)) |
| Joseph-Benoît Suvée, 1743-1807 : Un artiste entre Bruges, Rome et Paris (exposition Tours, musée des Beaux-arts de Tours, 21.10.2017 - 22.01.2018) / Sophie Join-Lambert, Anne Leclair, Denis Coekelberghs, Dominique Marechal. - Paris : Arthena, 2017 (p. 46, 213-214, cat. P.55) |
| Joseph-Benoît Suvée : De Bruges à Rome ; Un peintre face à David ; Livret de l'exposition (Tours, musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours, 21.10.2017 - 22.01.2018) / Sophie Join-Lambert, Anne Leclair. - Paris : Arthena, 2017 (p.10) |
| Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : De collectie (tentoonstelling vanaf 21 maart 2021) / Johan De Smet, Bart Ooghe, Frederica Van Dam, Lieven Van Den Abeele, Cathérine Verleysen. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2021 |
| Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand : La Collection (exposition dès le 21 mars 2021) / Johan De Smet, Bart Ooghe, Frederica Van Dam, Lieven Van Den Abeele, Cathérine Verleysen. - Gand : Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand, 2021 |
| Joseph-Benoît Suvée : De Bruges à Rome ; Un peintre face à David ; Livret de l'exposition (Tours, musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours, 21.10.2017 - 22.01.2018) / Sophie Join-Lambert, Anne Leclair. - Paris : Arthena, 2017 |
| onder vrienden : 225 jaar verzamelaars rond het Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent (tentoonstelling Gent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 25.11.2023 - 28.04.2024) / Johan De Smet, Frederica Van Dam, Willy Van der Gucht, Manfred Sellink. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2023 ; Gent : De Vrienden van het Museum, 2023 (cover; p. 79, cat. 92 (ill.)) |
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