The Musée des Augustins de Toulouse is a fine arts museum in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

which conserves a collection of sculpture and paintings from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

to the early 20th century. The paintings are from throughout France, the sculptures representing Occitan culture of the region with a particularly rich assemblage of

Romanesque sculpture Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 12th century, or later depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period. The term was invented by 19th-century ...

History

The building in which the museum is sited was built in 1309 in the Gothic style and prior to the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

housed Toulouse's Augustinian convent. The convent was secularized in 1793 and first opened to the public as a museum on 27 August 1795 by decree of the French Convention, very shortly after the opening of the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, making it one of the oldest museums in France after the Louvre and the Musée des Beaux Arts in Besançon. It at first housed the Muséum Provisoire du Midi de la République and the école des Beaux-Arts. The Musée des Augustins de Toulouse was one of fifteen museums founded in provincial centres, by a decree of 13

Fructidor Fructidor () is the twelfth month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the Latin word ''fructus'', which means "fruit". Fructidor is the third month of the summer quarter (''mois d'été''). By the Gregorian calendar, Fr ...

year IX (31 August 1801), which was promulgated by the minister of the interior,

Jean-Antoine Chaptal Jean-Antoine Chaptal, comte de Chanteloup (5 June 1756 – 30 July 1832) was a French chemist, physician, agronomist, industrialist, statesman, educator and philanthropist. His multifaceted career unfolded during one of the most brilliant periods ...

(Arrêté Chaptal du 14 fructidor an IX). At the start of the 19th century several medieval buildings (notably the refectory) were demolished and in their place Viollet-le-Duc and his pupil Darcy put up new exhibition galleries, accessed by a Gothic Revival monumental stair offering an interplay of richly complicated vaulting systems. The works continued from 1873 to 1901, when the museum reopened. In effect, Toulouse commissioned Urbain Vitry to ensure remove all the convent's religious characteristics. The archaeologist Alexandre Du Mège occupied the cloister and rebuilt it to be able to house the medieval collections gathered from Toulouse's destroyed religious buildings such as the basilique Saint-Sernin. Today the cloister houses a reconstructed medieval garden. The building was classed as a Monument historique in 1840.

Collections

Augustins - Paul Claudel à seize ans - Camille Claudel RA 941

The progressive concern of the museum's founder Jean-Antoine Chaptal, an early example of cultural devolution, was intended to ensure that "each collection presents an interesting series of paintings representing all the masters, all the genres and all the schools". In a series of shipments culminating in 1811, Toulouse was enriched with works by

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as Guercino, or il Guercino , was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vi ...

Pietro Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ea ...

, Rubens and

Philippe de Champaigne Philippe de Champaigne (; 26 May 1602 – 12 August 1674) was a Brabançon-born French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French school. He was a founding member of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in Paris, the premier art ...

. The collections total over 4,000 works and their core derives from confiscation of Church property at the time of the

as well as seizures of the private collections of

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French ''émigrer'', "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Huguenots fled France followin ...

s, in Toulouse notably the paintings of the cardinal de Bernis and Louis-Auguste le Tonnelier, baron de Breteuil. The museum's church even houses an organ built in 1981 by Jürgen Ahrend when Denis Milhau :fr:Denis Milhau was director of the musée between 1963 and 1994.

Paintings

The French schools of the 15th to 18th centuries are represented by

, Louise Moillon, Valentin de Boulogne,

Sébastien Bourdon Sébastien Bourdon (2 February 1616 – 8 May 1671) was a French painter and engraver. His ''chef d'œuvre'' is ''The Crucifixion of St. Peter'' made for the cathedral of Notre Dame. Biography Bourdon was born in Montpellier, Fran ...

, Jacques Stella,

Pierre Mignard Pierre Mignard or Pierre Mignard I (17 November 1612 – 30 May 1695), called "Mignard le Romain" to distinguish him from his brother Nicolas Mignard, was a French painter known for his religious and mythological scenes and portraits. He was ...

, Jean Jouvenet,

Hyacinthe Rigaud Jacint Rigau-Ros i Serra (; 18 July 1659 – 29 December 1743), known in French as Hyacinthe Rigaud (), was a Catalan-French baroque painter most famous for his portraits of Louis XIV and other members of the French nobility. Biography Rigaud ...

, Nicolas de Largillierre, Jean-François de Troy, Pierre Subleyras,

Jean-Baptiste Oudry Jean-Baptiste Oudry (; 17 March 1686 – 30 April 1755) was a French Rococo painter, engraver, and tapestry designer. He is particularly well known for his naturalistic pictures of animals and his hunt pieces depicting game. His son, Jacques-Ch ...

Claude Joseph Vernet Claude-Joseph Vernet (14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, was also a painter. Life and work Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Vernet ...

, Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun, Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, Antoine-Jean Gros and

Jean-Antoine Houdon Jean-Antoine Houdon (; 20 March 1741 – 15 July 1828) was a French neoclassical sculptor. Houdon is famous for his portrait busts and statues of philosophers, inventors and political figures of the Enlightenment. Houdon's subjects included De ...

, as well as painters from Toulouse and its region, such as

Nicolas Tournier Nicolas Tournier (baptised 12 July 1590d. before February 1639)Grove Art Online: "Nicolas Tournier". was a French Baroque painter. Born in Montbéliard, he followed the profession of his father, André Tournier, "a Protestant painter from Besan� ...

, Antoine and Jean-Pierre Rivalz,

François de Troy François de Troy ( 28 February 1645 – 1 May 1730) was a French painter and engraver who became principal painter to King James II in exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Director of the Académie Royale de peinture et de sculpture. Early li ...

and Joseph Roques. Many French 19th- and 20th-century painting are also represented, with works by Gabriel Guay,

Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the l ...

, Ingres, Delacroix, Camille Corot,

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and ...

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ra ...

Manet A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points ...

, Berthe Morisot, Vuillard,

Maurice Denis Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with ''Les Nabis'', symbolism, a ...

and

Maurice Utrillo Maurice Utrillo (), born Maurice Valadon; 26 December 1883 – 5 November 1955), was a French painter of the School of Paris who specialized in cityscapes. Born in the Montmartre quarter of Paris, France, Utrillo is one of the few famous pain ...

. The painting collection also includes works by Spanish, Dutch and Italian artists. The Italian holdings span from the 14th to the 18th century with works by

Neri di Bicci Neri di Bicci (1419–1491) was an Italian painter active in his native Florence. A prolific painter of mainly religious themes, he studied under his father, Bicci di Lorenzo, who had in turn studied under his father, Lorenzo di Bicci. The thr ...

, Lorenzo Monaco,

, Jacopo Zucchi, Guido Reni,

Bernardo Strozzi Bernardo Strozzi, named il Cappuccino and il Prete Genovese (c. 1581 – 2 August 1644) was an Italian Baroque painter and engraver. A canvas and fresco artist, his wide subject range included history, allegorical, genre and portrait paintin ...

, Baciccio,

Carlo Maratta Carlo Maratta or Maratti (13 May 162515 December 1713) was an Italian painter, active mostly in Rome, and known principally for his classicizing paintings executed in a Late Baroque Classical manner. Although he is part of the classical tradition ...

, Crespi, Francesco Solimena,

Guardi Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the classic Venetian school of ...

. Flemish and Dutch painting is represented with paintings by Cornelis van Haarlem, Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens,

Jan van Goyen Jan Josephszoon van Goyen (; 13 January 1596 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch landscape painter. The scope of his landscape subjects was very broad as he painted forest landscapesm marines, river landscapes, beach scenes, winter landscape, cityscap ...

Aelbert Cuyp Aelbert Jacobszoon Cuyp () (20 October 1620 – 15 November 1691) was one of the leading Dutch Golden Age painters, producing mainly landscapes. The most famous of a family of painters, the pupil of his father Jacob Gerritszoon Cuyp (1594–1651 ...

, Pieter Coecke van Aelst and

Cornelis van Poelenburgh Cornelis van Poelenburgh or Cornelis van Poelenburch (1594 – 12 August 1667),Cornelis van Poelenburch
...

while for Spain the museum notably displays one painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Augustins - La dernière dryade - Gabriel Guay (2004 1 169).jpg, Gabriel Guay, ''La dernière dryade'' (1898). Augustins - Saint Jean l'Évangéliste et saint Augustin par il Perugino 2004 1 25.jpg,

Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ea ...

, ''Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Augustine'' (1512-1523). Image:Death of Cleopatra by Rixens.jpg, Jean-André Rixens, ''Death of Cleopatra'' (1874). Augustins - Le Massage. Scène de hammam - Edouard Debat-Ponsan 1883.jpg, Edouard Debat-Ponsan, ''The massage'' Augustins - Le Christ descendu de la Croix - Nicolas Tournier 2004 1 285.jpg,

, ''Descent from the Cross'' File:Joseph Roques - Portrait de Madame Sermet ou La Rose et le Bouton - ca 1788.png, Joseph Roques, ''Portrait of Madame Sermet''

Sculpture

The museum's sculpture collection is in large part due to the rescue activities of antiquaries and museum curators such as Alexandre du Mège who managed to extricate sculpture from the frequent destruction of religious buildings that marked the 19th century. It is particularly strong in 12th-century Romanesque sculpture from the city's three main religious buildings - the priory of Notre-Dame de la Daurade, the basilica of Saint-Sernin and the cathedral of Saint-Étienne. Jorge Pardo realizes the new presentation of Romanesque sculpture. It also includes many 14th and 15th century locally produced sculptures and eight 16th century terracotta figures from the ''chapelle de Rieux'' (''Notre-Dame de Grasse'' and works by the master of Rieux), built around 1340 in the couvent des Cordeliers, as well as gargoyles from the same convent. It also houses 19th century sculpture, with plaster works by

Alexandre Falguière Jean Alexandre Joseph Falguière (also given as Jean-Joseph-Alexandre Falguière, or in short Alexandre Falguière) (7 September 183120 April 1900) was a French sculptor and painter. Biography Falguière was born in Toulouse. A pupil of the � ...

and his pupil Antonin Mercié, as well as works by Rodin and a bronze by

Camille Claudel Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The ...

. File:Augustins - Gargouilles de l'ancienne église des Cordeliers.jpg, Salvaged gargoyles displayed in the cloister File:Augustins_-_Salle_des_chapitreaux_romans.jpg, Hall of Romanesque capitals File:Maitre de Rieux - Musée des Augustins.jpg, Sculptures by the Master of Rieux - In the foreground, Jean Tissendier, bishop of Rieux File:Augustins - Vierge à l'Enfant dite Notre-Dame de Grasse RA 788.jpg, Notre-Dame de Grasse ( :fr:Vierge à l'Enfant : Nostre Dame de Grasse) File:Augustins_-_Dame_Tholose_-_1550_-_Jean_Rancy.jpg,

Lady Tholose ''Lady Tholose'' (french: Dame Tholose) is the name given to a bronze sculpture from the Toulouse Renaissance, a work by the sculptor Jean Rancy and the bronze caster Claude Peilhot. Under the features of the goddess Pallas Athena, it is an alle ...

, 1544-1550

References

External links