Did you know that Sente Henri Regnault is named after a gifted painter? Henri Regnault’s life was tragically cut short. He was born in Paris in 1843. Regnault died in Buzenval in 1871.
Henri Regnault’s father was a chemist named Henri Victor Regnault. Henri Regnault started painting in 1857. In 1861, he became a student of Louis Lamothe. Later, in 1864, he studied with Alexandre Cabanel. He attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Before that, he was a student at the Lycée Henri-IV in Paris.
After five attempts Henri Regnault won the Prix de Rome in 1866. His winning painting was called Thétis apportant à Achille les armes forgées par Vulcain. This allowed him to travel to Italy. He stayed at the Villa Médicis.
Henri Regnault traveled to Spain with his fellow student Auguste Laguillermie. This trip greatly influenced his work. In Madrid, he witnessed the Carlist revolution. He saw General Prim’s triumph and Queen Isabella II’s flight from Spain. He recorded his impressions in notebooks. The Alhambra palace in Grenada deeply impressed him.
At the Salon of 1870, Henri Regnault’s Général Prim and Salomé were presented. They were very successful. Théophile Gautier wrote Prim is all of Spain. Salomé is all of the Orient. From Spain, Henri Regnault went to Morocco with his friend Georges Clairin. He rented a house in Tangier. There he painted Exécution sans jugement sous les rois maures de Grenade. This orientalist painting is very expressive. Paul Durand-Ruel represented him as a gallery owner.
When the war of 1870 broke out, Henri Regnault returned to France. He joined the francs-tireurs with sculptor Émile Joseph Nestor Carlier. He became engaged to Geneviève Bréton. Her father was Louis Hachette’s right-hand man.
Henri Regnault died at the Battle of Buzenval. A Prussian bullet hit him in the temple. After the war, he planned to visit India. Then he wanted to settle in Tangier. He and Georges Clairin had bought land. It overlooked the Socco where they wanted to build a studio.
Carolus-Duran painted Henri Regnault mort au champ de bataille in 1871. It is displayed at the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille. F. Levés painting Mort d’Henri Regnault was shown at the Salon des artistes français in 1910.
The composer Camille Saint-Saëns dedicated his Marche héroïque to Henri Regnault in 1871. A statue of Henri Regnault by Jules Chaplain decorates the east façade of the Hôtel de Ville de Paris. The École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris has a monument to Henri Regnault. It also honors students killed in 1870-1871. Henri Chapu and Charles Degeorge created it.
There is a Rue Henri-Regnault in Paris. You can find them in Courbevoie, Garches, Lille, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud, and more. A bust of Henri Regnault stands in the courtyard of the Lycée Henri-IV. There is a 6000 m2 Square Henri-Regnault in La Défense. A bust marks where he died. It is near the 14th green of the Saint-Cloud golf course. The soldier on the monument of La Défense in Paris resembles Henri Regnault. Louis-Ernest Barrias created the monument.
Henri Regnault’s destiny is presented in the documentary 1870-1871. It uses extracts from his fiancée Geneviève Bréton’s diary. The documentary was created by Hermann Pölking-Eiken and Linn Sackarnd. Arte broadcasted it.
Henri Regnault’s works can be found in several museums. These include the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Boston and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. You can see his art in the Musée National du Château de Compiègne and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon.
Henri Regnault was a talented painter. His life and career were full of promise. Though he died young, his legacy lives on through his art. It also lives on in the many tributes to him, like this street Sente Henri Regnault, ensuring his memory is forever etched in the city of Paris.