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Virginie Bovie (1821–1888), full name Joséphine-Louise-Virginie Bovie, was a Belgian painter and arts patron. In 1870, she was described as "well known",〔"Bien connue": ''Revue de belgique'' 4 (January 1870), p. 76 ( online. )〕 but she has fallen into neglect in the 20th and early 21st centuries and only seven of her more than 200 works have been located.〔As of 2005; see Anne-Marie ten Bokum, "Virginie Bovie, een vergeten Brusselse schilderes," ''Art&fact'' 24: ''Femmes et créations'' (2005) (retrieved ) 26 July 2010.〕 ==Life and career== Bovie was born in Brussels and studied drawing first under Frans-Karel Deweirdt (1799–1855) before becoming part of the painting atelier of Antoine Wiertz (1806–1865), whose "megalomanic conceptions" she is said to have picked up.〔Katlijne van der Stighelen and Mirjam Westen, ''À chacun sa grâce'' (Flammarion, 1999), p. 247.〕 From 1850 forward, she regularly exhibited her works at the annual salons of Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent.〔Katlijne van der Stighelen and Mirjam Westen, ''À chacun sa grâce'' (Flammarion, 1999), p. 247.〕 These were historical and allegorical scenes, portraits or genre pieces.〔''Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIXe et XXe siècles'' (Éditions Racine, 2006), p. 75 (online. )〕 By the time she was 30, Bovie had executed two large-scale paintings for her parish church.〔Ten Bokum, "Art&fact"〕 She began a tour of Italy in 1855 with her older sister, Louise Bovie, a writer whose collected stories were published posthumously in 1870.〔''Dictionnaire des femmes belges'', p. 75.〕 Of the 300 Belgian painters, sculptors, engravers, and architects who traveled to Italy to study during the period 1830–1914, only five are thought to have been women; Bovie is one of three whose presence there is attested with certainty. She visited Rome, Florence, Naples, and Venice, obtaining permission to copy paintings in the galleries of Florence〔Christine A. Dupont, ''Modèles italiens et traditions nationales: les artistes belges en Italie, 1830-1914'' (Institut historique belge de Rome, 2005), p. 222.〕 as she did later in Paris at the Louvre, where in 1858 she reproduced ''The Raft of the Medusa'' by Théodore Géricault.〔Alexia Creusen, ''Femmes artistes en Belgique'' (Harmattan, 2007), p. 66.〕 Bovie painted several works on canvas drawing on Italian subject matter, including ''Neapolitan Woman with Child'' (1857),〔Dupont, ''Modèles italiens'', p. 563.〕 and exhibited some of these at the 1866 salon in Brussels and the 1879 salon in Antwerp.〔''Dictionnaire des femmes belges'', p. 75.〕 Her father was a rentier capitalist, and Bovie was able to remain financially independent and unmarried throughout her life. She lived in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode and Ixelles, suburbs of Brussels that were favored by artists. She built a ''grand maison'' at 208 rue de Trône, Ixelles, and had ''Musée Bovie'' carved into one of the foundation stones. She lived there for many years with Louise, who also never married, and used the house as exhibition space. Her cousin Félix Bovie, a painter, and the sculptor Antoine-Félix Bouré also showed their works there.〔Ten Bokum, "Art&fact"〕 In an 1873 English-language guide describing a six-day walking tour of Brussels, the Musée Bovie was noted as near the Musée Wiertz.〔''The Stranger's Guide to Brussels and Its Environs'' (Brussels, 1873, 5th ed.), p. 7 ( online. )〕 Bovie persisted with history painting at a time when it had become unfashionable,〔''Dictionnaire des femmes belges'', p. 75.〕 but her subject matter shows great variety. Her economic and personal independence enabled her to focus her energies on her career as a painter. The art historian Anne-Marie ten Bokum has conjectured that Bovie was a lesbian.〔Ten Bokum, "Art&fact"〕 Virginie and Louise had a third sister, Hortence or Hortense, who married François-Joachim-Alexandre Rouen and appears to have outlived him and both her sisters.〔Legal records pertaining to the estates of Virginie and Hortense, whose full name is given as Joséphine-Françoise-Hortense Bovie, appear in P. de Paepe, ''Pasinomie: collection complète des lois, décrets, arrêtés et règlements généraux qui peuvent être invoqués en Belgique'' (Brussels, 1892), pp. 141–142 ( online. )〕 Upon Bovie's death, the state declined the bequest of her ''musée'' and allowed its contents to be auctioned off.〔''Dictionnaire des femmes belges'', p. 75.〕 A catalogue for the auction, held in February 1889, was compiled by Jules de Brauwere.〔Jules de Brauwere, ''Catalogue de Musée Bovie qui sera vendu par suite du décès de Mademoiselle Virginie Bovie'' (1889).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Virginie Bovie」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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