Some collections are made with few resources. But knowledge and taste sometimes make it possible to compensate for this lack, and this is what we can see in this exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. It is true that the collector is a former curator of the Louvre in the paintings department, and that in his time people knew how to buy.
- 1. Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921)
The judgment of Solomon according to Valentin de Boulogne, around 1860-1870?
Oil on canvas – 18.5 x 24 cm
Private collection
Photo : Didier Rykner
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See the image on his page
- 2. Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
The Death of Ananiasaccording to Raphael,
around 1856-1858
Graphite pencil, brush and
gouache blanche – 28,1 x 44,2 cm
Private collection
Photo: MBA de Lyon/Martial Couderette
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See the image on his page
He wanted to remain anonymous, but rarely has anonymity remained so for such a short time, the time it often takes for him to return a painting to its author. It is in fact Jean-Pierre Cuzin, who ended his career at the Louvre as director of the paintings department. Like most conservatives of his generation, he was – and remains – a collector. Some people think that the two activities are incompatible. On the contrary, we believe that curators-collectors are often the best buyers of works for museums, because they know what the cost of an acquisition represents.
On this occasion, the collector became a major donor to the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon since he offered it no less than 53 works. We will highlight some of them in this article, primarily devoted to the exhibition, and we will include them all in our database.
- 3. Léon Bénouville (1821-1859)
Raphael seeing the Fornarina for the first timearound 1857
Graphite pencil, pen, brown ink, brown wash and gouache highlights
blanche – 46,6 x 35,3 cm
Donation to the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon subject to usufruct
Photo : Didier Rykner
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See the image on his page
- 4. Alexandre Hesse (1806-1879)
Young Italian water carriercirca 1843-1846
Black stone, sanguine, chalk
white and pastel – 32 x 25.5 cm
Donation to the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
Photo : Didier Rykner
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See the image on his page
A word, first, about the catalog. If each work benefits from a complete technical sheet rejected at the end of the volume, the analyzes are distributed throughout the text which constitutes a personal approach – and all the more fascinating – of the way in which the collection was constituted, coupled with a summary of Art history. A very partial history of art of course, since it is based solely on the works exhibited (and on those, numerous, which are not but which are nevertheless reproduced); a history of art that is nonetheless more lively than many others because it often goes off the beaten track.
- 3. Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury (1797-1890)
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