Painter Ary Scheffer, Scheffersplein, Dordrecht (Netherlands)
Nearly every town or city has one: a local celebrity, maybe famous only in the town itself or maybe worldwide. Ours is Ary Scheffer, a 19th century Romantic painter who was born in Dordrecht.
In spite of the fact that the Scheffer family moved to The Hague two years after his birth and that the artist later set up a studio in Paris where he came into vogue, we are still very proud of ‘our Ary’.
Four years after his death a statue was unveiled on a central square named after him. The sculpture created by Joseph Mezzara had been designed by Cornelia Marjolin, Scheffer’s daughter, a sculptor and painter in her own right (see his portrait of her below).
The Dordrechts Museum boasts the largest collection of paintings, sketches, drawings, etchings, etc. by Ary Scheffer thanks to Cornelia’s bequest in 1899.
Whenever I visit the museum (which I do regularly, as a Friend I can go in for free), I always visit the rooms dedicated to our painter. The works have been displayed in a very Romantic setting where the principal colour is a warm red. So if you ever should visit Dordrecht, you certainly must go and have a look.
Cornelia Marjolin-Scheffer, aged 19, painted by her father Ary Scheffer (1849) (courtesy of the Dordrechts Museum).
In response to the WordPress Photo Challenge: Local.
The Photographer Smiled... 
I find it hard to believe that da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is better known (world-wide, not in Dordrecht 🙂 ).
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Ha, ha!
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Mooi Marga, het lijkt mij echt de moeite waard het Dordrechtse museum te bezoeken.
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Moet je zeker doen, Edward. Er zijn altijd hele interessante tentoonstellingen, zoals die over het oudste goud van de wereld die over een week wordt geopend. Maar ga ook zeker eens kijken bij het Huis van Gijn, het 19e eeuwse woonhuis van Simon van Gijn dat nog helemaal is alsof de familie er nog woont: https://www.huisvangijn.nl.
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Bedankt voor de link Marga. Ik woon in Maassluis, niet zo ver van Dordrecht af.
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Met mijn Vriendenkaart kan ik gratis nog iemand meenemen, dat geldt voor beide musea en het Hof van Nederland. Dus voor het geval je hier interesse in hebt, laat me dat dan even weten.
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Goh, dat is erg lief van je Marga. In de herfst en winter ben ik niet zo reislustig, maar zal het zeker in gedachten houden .Groetjesssss…..
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Great post. I love hearing about local artists. I have several original paintings from an artist named C. G. Davidson. He painted in the early twentieth century in upstate New York. The painting were bequeathed to me my my father and my aunts who were raised in the area and knew the painter.
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What a nice story about the origin of your paintings. They must be very dear to you and you surely have heard some interesting details about the artist. In these cases it is not important if he is famous or not, the story behind the works give them a special meaning. What kind of paintings did he make?
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