#horace vernet

[random-brushstrokes]

Horace Vernet  (French, 1789-1863) - The Maiden's Lament

[thewindowofthesummerhouse]

Horace Vernet

[sictransitgloriamvndi]

[constanzarte]

Plague in Barcelona (1822), by Horace Vernet

[classicalcanvas]

Title: The maiden's lament

Artist: Horace Vernet

Date: 1789 - 1863

Style: Romanticism

Genre: Genre Painting

[romanticism-art-history]

The Wounded Trumpeteer painted by Horace Vernet (1789 - 1863)

[no-side-us]

This is a pretty tangential connection, but hear me out.

This painting, 'The Ballad of Lenore,' is based on the poem of the same name by Gottfried August Bürger:

and in that poem is where the line "the dead travel fast" comes from that Jonathan references. But that's plenty well-known.

Less well-known is the fact this was painted by the French artist Émile Jean-Horace Vernet, or just Horace Vernet.

And that's interesting because Sherlock Holmes revealed in the story The Greek Interpreter that he himself is related to a French artist named Vernet:

"To some extent," he answered, thoughtfully. "My ancestors were country squires, who appear to have led much the same life as is natural to their class. But, none the less, my turn that way is in my veins, and may have come with my grandmother, who was the sister of Vernet, the French artist. Art in the blood is liable to take the strangest forms."

And it has been speculated that the Vernet in question here is in fact Horace Vernet, if not his father Carle Vernet, or grandfather Claude-Joseph Vernet, both of whom were also French artists and painters.

Regardless of which Vernet he's talking about, he's still related to all of them. So I just think it's a pretty neat (albeit very tangential) in-universe connection between Jonathan Harker and Sherlock Holmes, two characters from very famous stories in the same era.

What's less tangential though is that Bram Stoker and Arthur Conan Doyle knew each other in real life, and were well acquainted. Here is a letter Doyle sent Stoker about how much he enjoyed Dracula:

Transcription:

Claremont Eastbourne Aug 20/97 My dear Bram Stoker I am sure that you will not think it an impertinence if I write to tell you how very much I have enjoyed reading Dracula. I think it is the very best story of diablerie which I have read for many years. It is really wonderful how with so much exciting interest over so long a book there is never an anticlimax. It holds you from the very start and grows more and more engrossing until it is quite painfully vivid. The old Professor is most excellent and so are the two girls. I congratulate you with all my heart for having written so fine a book. With all kindest remembrances to Mrs Bram Stoker and yourself Yours very truly A Conan Doyle.

And here is a link to an interview (that's too long for me to put here) that Stoker did with Doyle about his life and upcoming marriage, which he attended. The website itself has a lot of interesting information, if anyone wants to poke around.

So yeah, a cool connection between two interesting people, both in the real world and the world of fiction.

[illustratus]

Napoleon Bonaparte leading the charge at the Bridge of Arcole (details) by Horace Vernet

[lionofchaeronea]

Jeremiah in the Ruins of Jerusalem, Horace Vernet, 1844

[beatricecenci]

Horace Vernet (French, 1789-1863)

Ange de la mort

[history-of-fashion]

1831 Horace Vernet - Portrait of a Young Woman

(Toledo Museum of Art)

[random-brushstrokes]

Horace Vernet - Departure for the Hunt in the Pontine Marshes (1833)

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Horace Vernet (French, 1789-1863) Plague in Barcelona in 1819 The State Hermitage Museum

[classic-art-favourites]

Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr by Horace Vernet, 1821.

[constanzarte]

Horace Vernet - The Maiden's Lament

[classicalcanvas]

Title: Polish Prometheus

Artist: Horace Vernet

Date: 1831

Style: Romanticism

Genre: Allegorical Painting