L'artiste collectionneur de dessin - I

De Giorgio Vasari à aujourd'hui

This first volume inaugurates a new series, co-published with the Société du dessin (Paris), on the theme of the artist as collector.

Introduced by Pierre Rosenberg, of the Académie Française, and edited by Catherine Monbeig Goguel, the book consists of the proceedings of the first international symposium on ancient drawings, and concentrates mainly on France and Italy. Catherine Monbeig Goguel traces the history of the collections of Florentine artists, from Giorgio Vasari to Emilio Santarelli. In Rome, the figure of Francesco de Hollanda, who corresponded with Michelangelo, is examined by Sylvie Dewarte-Rosa. Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodino focuses on the Roman art world, thanks to the previously unpublished journals of Father Resta, while the city’s French colony during the eighteenth century is discussed by Cordelia Hattori. Jean-François Méjanes describes the collection of Charles Natoire, and Françoise Joulie reviews François Boucher’s. As regards the nineteenth century, the appealing figure of Jean Gigoux is portrayed by John Whiteley and the astonishing architect Hippolyte Destailleur is brought to life by Cédric Rabeyrolles. Chris Fischer analyses the collection of Jens Ferdinand Willumsen, a Danish painter whose work was exhibited recently at the Musée d’Orsay.

The survey is brought up to the present by a couple of contemporary artists, Claude Brogratchew and Anni Cardin, who built an exemplary collection during the course of the 1930s.

Catherine Monbeig Goguel is Emeritus Research Director at the Louvre, CNRS, and the author of 17th–18th Century Tuscan Drawings – vol. II 1620–1800, published by 5 Continents Editions, for which she was awarded the Eugène Carrière Prize.
Pierre Rosenberg, of the Académie Française, is the former President-Director of the Musée du Louvre.