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

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

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 ar ...

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.

History

The building in which the museum is sited was built in 1309 in the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

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 November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

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 École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. 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 (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 Urbain is a name of French origin which may refer to: ;Family name * Achille Urbain (1884–1957), French biologist * Georges Urbain (1872–1938), French chemist * Ismael Urbain (1812–1884), French journalist and interpreter * Jacques Urbain, ...

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 The Basilica of Saint-Sernin (Occitan: ''Basilica de Sant Sarnin'') is a church in Toulouse, France, the former abbey church of the Abbey of Saint-Sernin or St Saturnin. Apart from the church, none of the abbey buildings remain. The current churc ...

. Today the cloister houses a reconstructed

medieval garden A monastic garden was used by many people and for multiple purposes. Gardening was the chief source of food for households, but also encompassed orchards, cemeteries and pleasure gardens, as well as providing plants for medicinal and cultural uses ...

. 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, Pietro Perugino, Rubens and Philippe de Champaigne. 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 émigrés, in Toulouse notably the paintings of the

cardinal de Bernis Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

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 Denis may refer to: People * Saint Denis of Paris, 3rd-century Christian martyr and first bishop of Paris * Denis the Areopagite, Biblical figure * Denis, son of Ampud (died 1236), baron in the Kingdom of Hungary * Denis the Carthusian (1402–14 ...

: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 Philippe de Champaigne, Louise Moillon,

Valentin de Boulogne Valentin de Boulogne (before 3 January 1591 – 19 August 1632), sometimes referred to as Le Valentin, was a French painter in the tenebrist style. Origins Valentin was born in Coulommiers, France, where he was baptised in the parish of Saint ...

, Sébastien Bourdon, Jacques Stella, Pierre Mignard,

Jean Jouvenet Jean-Baptiste Jouvenet (1 May 1644 – 5 April 1717) was a French painter, especially of religious subjects. Biography He was born into an artistic family in Rouen. His first training in art was from his father, Laurent Jouvenet; a generation earl ...

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, Claude Joseph Vernet, Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun,

Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (December 6, 1750 – February 16, 1819) was a French painter who was influential in elevating the status of ''En plein air'' (open-air painting). Life & work Valenciennes worked in Rome from 1778 to 1782, where he m ...

, Antoine-Jean Gros and Jean-Antoine Houdon, as well as painters from Toulouse and its region, such as Nicolas Tournier,

Antoine Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guian ...

and Jean-Pierre Rivalz, François de Troy and Joseph Roques. Many French 19th- and 20th-century painting are also represented, with works by

Gabriel Guay Gabriel Guay (October 14, 1848 – September 15, 1923), whose full name was Julien Gabriel Guay, was a French painter and teacher. From 1873 he exhibited works at the annual Paris Salon. He painted portraits, and also scenes inspired by literature ...

, Toulouse-Lautrec, Ingres, Delacroix,

Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast o ...

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 t ...

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, Berthe Morisot, Vuillard, Maurice Denis and Maurice Utrillo. 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, Lorenzo Monaco, Pietro Perugino,

Jacopo Zucchi Jacopo Zucchi (c. 1541- c. 1590) was a Florentine painter of the Mannerist style, active in Florence and Rome. His training began in the studio of Giorgio Vasari, and he participated in decoration of the ''Studiolo'' and the ''Salone dei Cinq ...

, Guido Reni, Guercino, Bernardo Strozzi, 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. Flemish and Dutch painting is represented with paintings by

Cornelis van Haarlem Cornelis Corneliszoon van Haarlem (1562 – 11 November 1638) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and draughtsman, one of the leading Northern Mannerist artists in the Netherlands, and an important forerunner of Frans Hals as a portraitist. Biograph ...

, Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, Jan van Goyen, Aelbert Cuyp,

Pieter Coecke van Aelst Pieter Coecke van Aelst or Pieter Coecke van Aelst the Elder ( Aalst, 14 August 1502 – Brussels, 6 December 1550) was a Flemish painter, sculptor, architect, author and designer of woodcuts, goldsmith's work, stained glass and tapestries.

and Cornelis van Poelenburgh while for Spain the museum notably displays one painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Augustins - La dernière dryade - Gabriel Guay (2004 1 169).jpg,

, ''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, Nicolas Tournier, ''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 Notre-Dame de la Daurade is a basilica in Toulouse, France. It was established in 410 when Emperor Honorius allowed the conversion of pagan temples to Christianity. The original building of Notre-Dame de la Daurade was a temple dedicated to Apol ...

, the basilica of Saint-Sernin and the cathedral of

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the ...

. 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 300px, Sculptures by the master of Rieux at the Musée des Augustins (Toulouse) - In the foreground, Jean Tissendier, bishop of Rieux The Master of Rieux was a French 14th century anonymous master sculptor based in Rieux-Volvestre, then an impor ...

), 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 and his pupil

Antonin Mercié Marius Jean Antonin Mercié (October 30, 1845 in Toulouse – December 12, 1916 in Paris), was a French sculptor, medallist and painter. Biography Mercié entered the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and studied under Alexandre Falguière and ...

, as well as works by Rodin and a bronze by Camille Claudel. 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 300px, Sculptures by the master of Rieux at the Musée des Augustins (Toulouse) - In the foreground, Jean Tissendier, bishop of Rieux The Master of Rieux was a French 14th century anonymous master sculptor based in Rieux-Volvestre, then an impor ...

- 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, 1544-1550

References

External links