The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Britain and the Low Countries National Cultivation of Culture Edited by Joep Leerssen Editorial Board John Breuilly, Ina Ferris, Patrick Geary, John Neubauer, Tom Shippey, Anne-Marie Thiesse VOLUME 5 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ncc National Cultivation of Culture The Historical Imagination Edited by in Nineteenth-Century Britain Joep Leerssen and the Low Countries Editorial Board John Breuilly, Ina Ferris, Patrick Geary, John Neubauer, Tom Shippey, Anne-Marie Thiesse Edited by Hugh Dunthorne and Michael Wintle VOLUME 5 LEIDEN • BOSTON The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ncc 2013 Cover illustration: Nicaise De Keyser, Albrecht Dürer visits Quentin Matsys, c.1862–1872, oil on canvas, 29 × 18 cm. (detail). Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp—Photo: © Lukas—Art in Flanders VZW photo Hugo Maertens. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The historical imagination in nineteenth-century Britain and the Low Countries / edited by Hugh Dunthorne and Michael Wintle. p. cm. — (National cultivation of culture ; v. 5) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-23379-9 (hardback : acid-free paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-24186-2 (acid-free paper) 1. Great Britain—Historiography—19th century. 2. Belgium—Historiography—History— 19th century. 3. Netherlands—Historiography—History—19th century. 4. Art and history—Great Britain. 5. Art and history—Belgium. 6. Art and history—Netherlands. 7. Literature and history— Great Britain—History—19th century. 8. Literature and history—Belgium—History—19th century. 9. Literature and history—Netherlands—History—19th century. I. Dunthorne, Hugh. II. Wintle, Michael J. DA530.H57 2013 907.2’041—dc23 2012035970 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1876-5645 ISBN 978-90-04-23379-9 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-24186-2 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS List of Illustrations .......................................................................................... vii Preface ................................................................................................................ ix Notes on Contributors ................................................................................... xi Ken Haley: An Appreciation ........................................................................ xvii Bob Moore PART ONE INTRODUCTION Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands and the Historical Imagination in the Nineteenth Century: An Introduction ........... 3 Michael Wintle 1. From Waterloo Field to Bruges-la-Morte. Historical Imagination in the Nineteenth Century ..................................................................... 19 Niek van Sas PART TWO THE SCOPE AND LANGUAGE OF NATIONAL HISTORY 2. A Very English Affair? Defining the Borders of Empire in Nineteenth-Century British Historiography ...................................... 45 Andrew Mycock 3. Who is the Nation and What Does It Do? The Discursive Construction of the Nation in Belgian and Dutch National Histories of the Romantic Period ......................................................... 67 Marnix Beyen 4. The Colonies in Dutch National Museums for Art and History (1800–1885) ................................................................................... 87 Ellinoor Bergvelt vi contents PART THREE HISTORICAL FICTION AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITY 5. ‘Retro-Fitting the Past’: Literary Historicism between the Golden Spurs and Waterloo ................................................................. 113 Joep Leerssen 6. The Victorians, the Dark Ages and English National Identity ... 133 Joanne Parker 7. ‘A True Conception of History’: ‘Making the Past Part of the Present’ in Late Victorian Historical Romances ............................. 151 Anna Vaninskaya PART FOUR THE PAST IMAGINED IN THE VISUAL ARTS 8. Picturing Patriotism: The Image of the Artist-Hero and the Belgian Nation State, 1830–1900 .......................................................... 171 Jenny Graham 9. A Few Painters, A Few Heroes and Many Factory Workers: In Search of the Historical Culture of Belgian Immigrants in Northern France, 1850–1914 ................................................................... 199 Tom Verschaffel and Saartje Vanden Borre 10. ‘Retracing the History of our Country’: National History Painting and Engraving in Britain and the Low Countries in the Nineteenth Century .................................................................... 219 Hugh Dunthorne General Bibliography ..................................................................................... 243 Fifty Years of Anglo-Dutch Historical Conferences and Britain and the Netherlands Published Volumes, 1959–2012 ................................ 259 Index ................................................................................................................... 263 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1.1. J. van Lennep & Compagnie, Tafereelen uit de geschiedenis des vaderlands tot nut van groot en klein (Amsterdam, 1854), title page. ................................................................................................. 28 1.2. Van Lennep, Tafereelen, plate VI. ..................................................... 28 1.3. Van Lennep, Tafereelen, plate VII. ................................................... 28 1.4. Van Lennep, Tafereelen, plate VIII. ................................................. 29 1.5. Van Lennep, Tafereelen, plate X. ...................................................... 29 1.6. Van Lennep, Tafereelen, plate XII. ................................................... 30 1.7. Van Lennep, Tafereelen, plate XV. ................................................... 30 1.8. Van Lennep, Tafereelen, plate XVI. .................................................. 30 1.9. Van Lennep, Tafereelen, plate XVII. ................................................ 31 1.10. Van Lennep, Tafereelen, plate IX. ..................................................... 31 4.1. Art Museums: Overview of numbers of old and contemporary paintings acquired and total expenditure in guilders. .............. 89 4.2. Non-art Museums under Willem I: Expenditure on acquisitions and expeditions in guilders. ...................................... 93 4.3. Antoine Payen, De Borobudur, 1835. Oil on canvas, 80 × 110 cm. Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden, RMV 200–26. ..... 101 4.4. Private Museums. .................................................................................. 104 8.1. Statue of Hans Memling (c. 1430–1494) by Hendrik Pickery, 1871. Woensdagmarkt, Bruges. Author’s photograph. ................. 172 8.2. Jean-Baptiste Madou, ‘Quentin Matsys—Le Portrait’. Lithograph, 30.5 × 40.6 cm. From Scènes de la vie des peintres de l’école flamande et hollandaise (Brussels, Société des Beaux-Arts, 1842). Image by courtesy of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. ............................................................ 178 8.3. Nicaise De Keyser, Albrecht Dürer visits Quentin Matsys, c. 1862–1872. Oil on canvas, 29 × 18 cm. Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. © Lukas—Art in Flanders VZW. .......................................................................................................... 179 8.4. Richard Redgrave, R.A., Quentin Matsys, the blacksmith of Antwerp, 1839. Oil on canvas, 101.6 × 127 cm. Private collection. © Christie’s Images Limited 2012. ............................... 180 viii list of illustrations 8.5. Edouard Wallays, Mary of Burgundy visits Memling in the Hospital of Saint John, c. 1861–1872. Oil on canvas, 94 × 148.5 cm. Groeningemuseum, Bruges. © Lukas—Art in Flanders VZW. ................................................................................. 185 8.6. Henri Leys, The Visit of Dürer to Antwerp in 1520, 1855. Oil on panel, 140 × 210 × 14.5 cm. Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. © Lukas—Art in Flanders VZW. ..................... 193 9.1. Jean-Joseph Weerts, L’assassinat de Marat, 1880. Oil on canvas. © RMN, Alain Leprince, Musée La Piscine, Roubaix. ................................................................................................... 205 9.2. Remy Cogghe, Le bain de pieds inattendu—scène de cabaret en Flandre, 1895. Oil on canvas. © RMN, Alain Leprince, Musée La Piscine, Roubaix. ............................................................... 208 10.1. Honoré Daumier, The Public at the Salon: the danger of taking impressionable children to see Monsieur Gallait’s picture [‘Last Honours rendered to Counts Egmont and Hoorn’] and of reading out