art collection
A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, repl ...
in the
7th arrondissement of Paris
The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. It is known for being, along with the 16th arrondissement and the ''commune'' of Neuilly-sur-Sein ...
works, including works by Dutch, Flemish, Italian and French artists. It was founded in 1947 by the collector and art historian
Frits Lugt
Frederik Johannes "Frits" Lugt (Amsterdam 4 May 1884 – 15 July 1970 Paris), was a self-taught collector and connoisseur of Dutch drawings and prints and a selfless and tireless compiler of essential reference tools documenting Northern Europ ...
and his wife Jacoba Lugt-Klever to house their collection of drawings, prints and paintings. Located at 121 rue de Lille, it occupies the Hôtel Turgot, an 18th-century mansion.
History
Frits Lugt, born in Amsterdam in 1884 and died in Paris in 1970, was a famous Dutch art historian. He catalogued the collections of Dutch drawings in Parisian public institutions (
Musée du Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
,
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
and Ecole nationale des beaux-arts). He is most famous for his survey of collector’s marks on drawings and prints, which is still a reference work for specialists today and continues to be enriched in the form of a growing online database.
Throughout his life, Frits Lugt was a keen art lover and collector. He built up a unique collection of drawings, prints, old books, paintings, artists' letters and Indian miniatures. Inspired by the example of the private American foundations he had visited while living in the United States during the Second World War, he decided in 1947 to create the Fondation Custodia (whose name means "safekeeping" in Latin) and to transfer his collection and his assets there. The foundation was set up in the Hôtel Turgot in Paris, and in 1957 Frits Lugt also created the
Institut néerlandais
The Institut Néerlandais (1957–2013) was a non-profit institution in Paris devoted to the promotion of Dutch art and culture. One of the earliest foreign cultural centers in Paris, it was founded in 1957 by Frits Lugt. The Dutch Ministry of For ...
, housed in the neighbouring Hôtel Lévis-Mirepoix. This Dutch cultural centre was founded in collaboration with the Dutch government. In 2013, the latter withdrew its subsidy and the Institut néerlandais closed its doors for good.
The Fondation Custodia continues to acquire works to enrich the Lugt Collection and regularly organises exhibitions and guided tours of the Hôtel Turgot. It also lends works to exhibitions in France and abroad and is open to specialists and art lovers by appointment. It has a library whose collection, specialised in the field of Western fine arts from 1450 to 1900, is particularly extensive for graphic arts and exhaustive for the art of the Northern Schools of the Golden Age.
Collection
The collection, continually added to that formed by Lugt, includes works by Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French, Danish, British, German artists, and features over 7,000 Old Master drawings, 15,000 prints, and 450 paintings.
The drawings date from the 15th to the mid-19th century and mainly concern the Dutch and Flemish schools of the 17th century (
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
,
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten (2 August 1627, in Dordrecht – 19 October 1678, in Dordrecht) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, who was also a poet and author on art theory.
Biography
Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten trained first with his father Di ...
Ferdinand Bol
Ferdinand Bol (24 June 1616 - 24 August 1680) was a Dutch painter, etcher and draftsman. Although his surviving work is rare, it displays Rembrandt's influence; like his master, Bol favored historical subjects, portraits, numerous self-portraits, ...
), but there are also works from France (
Claude Lorrain
Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in I ...
,
Antoine Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised 10 October 1684died 18 July 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French Painting, painter and Drawing, draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour ...
,
François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
), Italy (
Domenico Beccafumi
Domenico di Pace Beccafumi (1486May 18, 1551) was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active predominantly in Siena. He is considered one of the last undiluted representatives of the Sienese school of painting.
Biography
Domenico was born ...
,
Sebastiano Ricci
Sebastiano Ricci (1 August 165915 May 1734) was an Italian Baroque painter of the late Baroque period in Venetian painting. About the same age as Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Piazzetta, and an elder contemporary of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Tie ...
, Tiepolo, Germany, Denmark and England. The prints are also dominated by Dutch and Flemish masters of the 16th and 17th centuries. Particularly noteworthy are prints of almost all of Rembrandt's etchings, rare engravings by
Lucas van Leyden
Lucas van Leyden (1494 – 8 August 1533), also named either Lucas Hugensz or Lucas Jacobsz, was a Dutch painter and printmaker in engraving and woodcut. Lucas van Leyden was among the first Dutch exponents of genre painting and was a very ac ...
, portraits of artists, Italian, German and Dutch woodcuts, and high-quality French portrait etchings.
The foundation also holds a collection of some 450 paintings. The first part consists of works by Dutch and Flemish painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. All genres are represented, from portraits to still life, genre scenes and landscapes.
Among the paintings are church interiors by
Pieter Saenredam
Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (9 June 1597 – buried 31 May 1665) was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age, known for his distinctive paintings of whitewashed church interiors such as '' Interior of St Bavo's Church in Haarlem'' (1636) and '' Interior ...
and
Emanuel de Witte
Emanuel de Witte (1617–1692) was a Dutch perspective painter. In contrast to Pieter Jansz Saenredam, who emphasized architectural accuracy, De Witte was more concerned with the atmosphere of his interiors. Though few in number, de Witte also ...
, genre scenes by
Jan Brueghel the Elder
Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder ( , ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painting, Flemish painter and Draughtsmanship, draughtsman. He was the younger son of the eminent Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Flemish ...
Willem Kalf
Willem Kalf (1619 – 31 July 1693) was one of the most prominent Dutch still-life painters of the 17th century, the Dutch Golden Age. We first get acquainted with Willem Kalf through Arnold Houbraken, in his Groot Schilderboek, who speaks ver ...
,
Jan Steen
Jan Havickszoon Steen ( – buried 3 February 1679) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century. His works are known for their psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour.
Life
...
Herri met de Bles
Herri met de Bles, also known as Henri Bles, Herri de Dinant, Herry de Patinir,(c. 1490 – after 1566), was a Flemish Northern Renaissance and Mannerist landscape painter, native of Bouvignes or Dinant (both in present-day Belgium). The name ...
,
Gillis Mostaert
Gillis Mostaert the Elder (27 or 28 November 1528 – 28 December 1598) was a Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Flemish Renaissance painter and draughtsman active in Antwerp in the second half of the 16th century.Joachim Beuckelaer
Joachim Beuckelaer (c. 1533 – c. 1570/4) was a Flemish painter specialising in market and kitchen scenes with elaborate displays of food and household equipment.
,
Pieter Lastman
Pieter Lastman (1583–1633) was a Dutch painter. Lastman is considered important because of his work as a painter of history pieces and because his pupils included Rembrandt and Jan Lievens. In his paintings Lastman paid careful attention to ...
,
Thomas de Keyser
Thomas de Keyser (c. 1596–1667) was a Dutch portrait painter and a dealer in Belgium bluestone and stone mason. He was the most in-demand portrait painter in the Netherlands until the 1630s, when Rembrandt eclipsed him in popularity. Rembra ...
and
David Teniers the Younger
David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II (bapt. 15 December 1610 – 25 April 1690) was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, draughtsman, miniaturist painter, staffage painter, copyist and art curator. He was an extremely versatile artist ...
Willem Kalf
Willem Kalf (1619 – 31 July 1693) was one of the most prominent Dutch still-life painters of the 17th century, the Dutch Golden Age. We first get acquainted with Willem Kalf through Arnold Houbraken, in his Groot Schilderboek, who speaks ver ...
Hendrick Avercamp
Hendrick Avercamp (January 27, 1585 (bapt.) – May 15, 1634 (buried)) was a Dutch painter during the Dutch Golden Age of painting. He was one of the earliest landscape painters of the 17th-century Dutch school, he specialized in painting t ...
, Esaias Van de Velde the Elder, Jan van de Velde the Younger,
Jacob van Ruisdael
Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael (; 1629 – 10 March 1682) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He is generally considered the pre-eminent landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age, a period of great wealth and cultural achie ...
,
Jan Lievens
Jan Lievens (24 October 1607 – 4 June 1674) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who was associated with his close contemporary Rembrandt, a year older, in the early parts of their careers. They shared a birthplace in Leiden, training with Pieter ...
,
Aert van der Neer
Aert van der Neer, or Aernout or Artus ( – 9 November 1677), was a landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age, who specialized in small night scenes lit only by moonlight and fires, and snowy winter landscapes, both often looking down a canal ...
,
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 landscapes, marine paintings, river landscapes, beach scenes, winter landscap ...
,
Paulus Potter
Paulus Potter (; 20 November 1625 (baptised) – 17 January 1654 (buried)) was a Dutch painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid sur ...
Aelbert Cuyp
Aelbert Jacobszoon Cuyp or Cuijp (; 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 (1 ...
Karel Dujardin
Karel Dujardin (September 27, 1626November 20, 1678) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Although he did a few portraits and a few history paintings of religious subjects, most of his work is small Italianate landscape scenes with animals and peasan ...
Jan de Bray
Jan de Bray ( – April 4, 1697) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem until the age of 60, when he went bankrupt and moved to Amsterdam.
Jan de Bray was influenced by his father Salomon de Bray, and the portrait ...
,
Caspar Netscher
Caspar (or Gaspar) Netscher (1639 – January 15, 1684) was a Dutch portrait and genre painter. He was a master in depicting oriental rugs, silk and brocade and introduced an international style to the Northern Netherlands.
Life
According to Arn ...
,
David Teniers the Younger
David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II (bapt. 15 December 1610 – 25 April 1690) was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, draughtsman, miniaturist painter, staffage painter, copyist and art curator. He was an extremely versatile artist ...
and
Nicolaes Maes
Nicolaes Maes (January 1634December 1693 (buried 24 December 1693)) was a Dutch Republic, Dutch painter known for his Genre painting, genre scenes, Portrait painting, portraits, religious compositions and the occasional still life. A pupil of Re ...
. Other schools and painters from later centuries are represented by works from
Sofonisba Anguissola
Sofonisba Anguissola ( – 16 November 1625), also known as Sophonisba Angussola or Sophonisba Anguisciola, was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Cremona to a relatively poor noble family. She received a well-rounded education that ...
,
Paolo Porpora
Paolo Porpora (1617–1673) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque, who was active mainly in Naples and specialized in floral still life
A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject m ...
Nicolas de Largillière
Nicolas de Largillière (; baptised 10 October 1656 – 20 March 1746) was a French people, French painter and Drawing, draughtsman.
Biography
Early life
Largillière was baptised at the in Paris on 10 October 1656. The son of a merchant hatm ...
and
Francesco Guardi
Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School (art), Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the clas ...
.
The second part, of almost 300 paintings, is devoted to 19th century European painting. These are mainly oil sketches, landscapes executed in the open air.
The collection of artists' letters, developed especially after Frits Lugt, is one of the most important in the world with more than 40,000 items dating from the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
to the present day. It also includes correspondence from collectors and art connoisseurs. Letters from French artists of the 17th and 19th centuries predominate. Among the famous artists, the foundation holds letters from
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...
,
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...
,
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...
,
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
and Dimitri Bouchène.
Finally, the Fondation Custodia has smaller collections of Indian miniatures, miniature portraits, old books (particularly 17th century Dutch), original frames (1,000 pieces), Chinese porcelain and a few antique objects of Greek, Roman and Egyptian origin.