Born: 1821, Belgium
Died: 1888
Country most active: Belgium
Also known as: Joséphine-Louise-Virginie Bovie
Virginie Bovie was a Belgian painter and arts patron, well-known in her time but later largely forgotten. Current whereabouts are only known for seven of her more than 200 works.
Bovie studied drawing under Frans-Karel Deweirdt (1799–1855) before joining the painting atelier of Antoine Wiertz (1806–1865), whose “megalomanic conceptions” she reputedly picked up. From 1850 onward, she often exhibited her works – historical and allegorical scenes, portraits or genre pieces – at the annual salons of Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent. By age 30, Bovie had executed two large-scale paintings for her parish church.
She departed in 1855 for a tour of Italy (Rome, Florence, Naples, and Venice) with her older sister, Louise Bovie, a writer whose collected stories were published posthumously in 1870. Bovie painted several works on canvas inspired by Italian subject matter, including Neapolitan Woman with Child (1857), and exhibited some of them at the 1866 salon in Brussels and the 1879 salon in Antwerp.
Thanks to her wealthy father, Bovie was able to remain financially independent and unmarried throughout her life. This independence also enabled her to paint what she was interested in, not necessarily what would sell. She built a grand house at 208 rue de Trône, Ixelles, which she dubbed Musée Bovie and often used as exhibition space. When Bovie exhibited The Visitation and The Iconoclasts at the Cathedral of Antwerp at the Antwerp salon of 1861, a reviewer remarked “They show evidence of substantial studies, a good grasp of composition, great feeling for color—all qualities which are grounds for astonishment in a woman and in a century when painting shines with more grace than power.”
During the final decade of her life, she eventually set aside the academic tradition of painting and her style became freer.
The art historian Anne-Marie ten Bokum has theorized that Bovie was a lesbian.
After Bovie’s death, the state declined the bequest of her musée, auctioning off the contents instead. A catalogue for the auction, held in February 1889, lists 170 works of art by Bovie, as well as 71 she had collected. She is believed to have produced at least 204 works – grand historical and religious paintings, some of which were official commissions, as well as scenes of contemporary life, floral arrangements, and portraits.