A painting by Aimée Brune-Pagès for the Musée de Picardie

1. Aimée Brune-Pagès (1803-1866)
Condemnation of Anne Boleyn, 1832
Oil on canvas - 100.5 x 82 cm
Amiens, Musée de Picardie
Photo: Xavier Lavictoire

See the image in its page

22/8/23 - Acquisition - Amiens, Musée de Picardie - Visitors to the Amiens institution, as well as readers of La Tribune de l’Art, know how proud this museum can be of its dense 19th-century collections, where the greatest names cohabit harmoniously with artists who are still largely unknown. The museum’s new director, Pierre Stépanoff (see the news item of 13/2/23), who arrived last May, is fortunately one of those curators who believe that the museum’s walls are never full enough, and it took him just one month to spot an attractive painting at public auction that would be a fitting addition to the Romantic collection. Preempted for €2,200 hammer at Jean-Marc Delvaux in Paris on June 22, Condemnation of Anne Boleyn (ill. 1) was painted in 1832 by Aimée Brune-Pagès. When it appeared at Hôtel Drouot, the painting was presented as The Farewell of Mary Stuart, a plausible confusion that was quickly refuted by the booklet of the 1833 Salon, where it was presented - and duly described - and so opportunely reappeared. Although it still needs to be framed, Condemnation of Anne Boleyn is a fine testimony to the success of this theme, so much appreciated by Romantic artists.

2. Engraving of the Condemnation of Anne Boleyn published in the Annales du musée et de l’école moderne des beaux-arts.
Photo: Gallica BnF

See the image in its page

The painting was engraved (ill. 2) and commented on at length in Charles Paul Landon’s Annales du musée et de l’école moderne des beaux-arts, and his notice begins by recalling how "the deplorable end of Anne de Boulen, thus that of Mary Stuart, has often inspired the genius of our artists". "For several years, there has been no exhibition where one or two paintings depicting these two unfortunate queens receiving their…