A Hundred portraits, one mysterious collector

From 6th November last until 1st March, the Musée Lambinet is host to a small, but well-presented exhibition, "A Hundred Portraits for a Century: from the Court to the Town in the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI".  The curator is Xavier Salmon, Director of Graphic Arts at the Louvre. The portraits on show are from a private collection. The emphasis is on images of royalty, courtiers and celebrities and there are copies of familiar paintings; but less well-known sitters and  artists are also represented. The exhibition is attractively set out over eight  rooms of the museum, with design and signage by Jérôme Dumoux of MyArtDesign. There is also a beautifully illustrated published catalogue. The critical response has been generally positive.

The question remains, however: where exactly do these pictures come from?

The Press Release tells us that they belong to  organisation called the "Conservatoire du Portrait du Dix-Huitième Siècle" (CPDHS):

The mission of the Conservatoire du Portrait du Dix-Huitième Siècle (CPDHS), (which was founded twenty years ago) is to document as comprehensibly as possible the European society of the Enlightenment, its portraits and portrait artists.....Extensive dossiers have been created, indexed by both artist and subject....At the heart of each dossier are reproductions of portraits which have been sold at auction in the last twenty-five years...Sitters rather than artists are the primary focus:  the main mission is to identify faces; on numerous occasions the patient collation of information has allowed anonymous models to be identified.  Rarely a private initiative of this sort been able to call upon so many images and references for a given era...

Its continuing mission has informed the Conservatoire's collecting policy  since 1983.   The portraits reflect the diversity of 18th century society.  Although priority has been given to the royal family, members of the Court and Parisian high society the bourgeois of both the capital and the provinces  are also represented.  Certain works have also been acquired because they are by interesting lesser artists, eg. Josef Johann Melchior Wyrsch (1732-1798) who worked in Franchecomte and  Simon Pinson (f. 1758-1787), collaborator of Alexandre Roslin.

Space given over to a private collection in a French public museums is not in itself novel.  Xavier Salmon cites several recent precedents including the upcoming Masterpieces from the Prat Collection at the Petit-Palais. The exhibition is also in line with the rebranding of the Lambinet under Emilie Maisonneuve as a "maison de collectionneurs".  The problem is mainly that the collector in question has chosen to remain entirely anonymous.

Given the scope of the research, it seems really surprising that nothing at all has ever been published about the Conservatoire and its documentary resources.  Elsewhere we learn that there are as many as four hundred portraits in the total collection. 


In November 2017 members of the "Connaissances de Versailles" forum, alerted by  a portrait in Visiteurs à Versailles exhibition, uncovered a few more details. Conservatoire du Portrait du Dix-Huitième Siècle was registered as a trade name in Paris in 2001 by a certain Jean-Jacques Petit; though there seemed to be no commercial entity associated with it. Petit himself is obviously keen to remain anonymous and has almost no internet presence. He is occasionally mentioned in catalogues and auction notes, so we know he  is a real person, but it is too common a  name to trace easily (Personally my money is on the J-J.P. who is president of the Edmond Petit design company)

["Lors de l'exposition Visiteurs à Versailles, est apparu le nom d'une entité qui m'est inconnue et absente d’internet : Le CONSERVATOIRE DU PORTRAIT DIX-HUITIEME SIECLE (sigle : C.P.D.H.S.) localisé à Paris.  Marque commerciale déposée en 2001 par un dénommé Jean Jacques Petit."]
http://www.connaissancesdeversailles.org/t8083-le-conservatoire-du-portrait-du-dix-huitieme-siecle

There has been no comment at all from the art world about the circumstances of the present exhibition until mid-December when an article appeared in the Gazette Drouot. The author, Vincent Noce was sharply critical of quality of the portraits and went so far as to accuse Xavier Salmon, of deliberately crediting dubious works: "We prefer to allow the reader to judge the aesthetic quality of this collection of second or third-hand copies, sold at low prices as anonymous, and now graced with the privilege of attribution..."

Salmon, it would appear, had manifestly failed to consult the expert literature. A particularly damning example concerned Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun's portrait of her brother which appears on the exhibition poster;  in the catalogue of the 2015 EVB retrospective, which Salmon himself curated with Joseph Baillio, this work had been relegated to a copy" whose autograph character is at least doubtful".

Noce insinuated that Salmon had distorted his scholarship to oblige Petit, a private collector whom he knew personally:

Salmon cites the precedent of Guy Cogeval at the Musée d'Orsay, to argue that museums should open their doors to private collectors: Whether they are ultimately resold or donated to public galleries, private collections "live their lives".  However, the collection on view at Versailles is curiously anonymous.  It belongs in fact to certain Jean-Jacques Petit, with whom Xavier Salmon "has shared thirty years of acquaintance and friendship" He admits that he himself sollicited permission for the exhibition from his hierarchy. 

The article ends by reiterating the need for professional caution from curatorial staff dealing with private collections, especially  "in an era when high prices and rarity of artworks encourages  over-optimistic assessments" 


Unsurprisingly Salmon was quick to reply.  He pointed out the historical interest of the collection and defended his scholarly conclusions: 

As explained in the catalogue, the pictures in the current exhibition have been amassed over three decades by an amateur who wishes to illustrate French society in the 18th century in all its diversity.  His intention has not been to acquire works by grand masters, but to exemplify the practice of portraiture...  Although Louis-Michel Van Loo, Liotard, Duplessis ou Vigée Le Brun are represented, there are also numerous lesser artists: Adélaïde Hubert, Anne-Baptiste Nivelon, Chevalier Delorge, Frey, Schmidt, Wyrsch, Millot, Lassave, Vallière, Borgnis.  The catalogue offers an opportunity to present newly gathered information about these painters' careers and clientele. The exhibition shows that there was a demand from sitters for portraits at different prices supporting a wide spectrum of artistic talent.

As to attribution: the paintings on display include twenty-five signed works and forty-nine where the identity of the artist is confirmed by documentary evidence, style or comparison with autographed examples.  Fourteen are tentative attributions, eight studio works and four entirely anonymous.  All the available evidence is set out in the catalogue; in the case of the portrait of EVB's brother,  the quality of the face and the presence of repentirs count against it being a simple copy.

Salmon does not think he can be reproached for knowing the collector personally.  During thirty years of working with portraits, he has benefited from his expertise.  Several private collectors -  Prat, Motais de Narbonne, Milgrom, Jeffrey Horvitz - have recently been showcased  in public museums.  Besides, the current collector is seeking a long term repository and might even be considering  a bequest.

Vincent Noce, "Et donc..." [Article and Xavier Salmon's reply]  Gazette Drouot, 12.12.2019 
https://www.gazette-drouot.com/article/%25C2%25AB%25E2%2580%2589et-donc%25E2%2580%25A6%25E2%2580%2589%25C2%25BB/12056



On the whole, I think, Salmon gets the better of the argument.  Without this initiative, no-one would get to see this collection at all.  The Lambinet seems a suitable venue.  Besides, who can complain about an expo which is included with the museum admission price - a very modest 6 euros.


References for the Exhibition



Exhibition press dossier and List of works
https://www.versailles.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/Versailles-fr/Culture/Etablissements_culturels/Mus%C3%A9e_Lambinet/Expositions/DP_ExpositionCentPortraits_MuseeLambinet.pdf

Scenography by MyArtDesign.fr.
http://www.myartdesign.fr/images/JeromeDUMOUX_scenographe.pdf



Photos:
Corinne Martin-Rozès« Cent portraits pour un siècle » au Musée Lambinet, Versailles in my pocket, 6.11.2019.
http://www.versaillesinmypocket.com/2019/11/cent-portraits-pour-un-siecle-au-musee-lambinet.html

Alain.R.Truong > Art du XVIIIème siècle / 18th century art > 'Cent portraits pour un siècle' au Musée Lambinet, 6.11.2019
p://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2019/11/06/37767700.html

 Cent portraits pour un siècle. Exposition au Musée Lambinet (Versailles) on Marie-Antoinette-Forum.
http://marie-antoinette.forumactif.org/t4696-cent-portraits-pour-un-siecle-exposition-au-musee-lambinet-versailles