Second Part — The Musee Conde
Chapter XI The Art Treasures of the Musée Condé and How They Were Brought Together
No sooner had the Duc d’Aumale resolved to bestow Chantilly with all its treasures as a gift to the French nation than he joined, with even more enthusiasm than he had previously done, the ranks of the great European collectors, and he frequently attended in person important sales in London, Paris, and elsewhere.
During the long years of exile, passed chiefly in England, he usually resided either at Orleans House near Twickenham or at Woodnorton in Worcestershire (till recently the residence of his nephew, the present Duke of Orleans). It was, however, at the former place that all the valuable manuscripts, paintings, books, and objects of art brought from Chantilly were then housed.
The first exhibition of his taste as a pronounced bibliophile was given by his acquiring the celebrated Standish Library, a collection originally bequeathed to Louis Philippe by the English collector Standish but sold by auction in 1851 on the death of that King. This remarkable collection contained numerous Aldine editions and hundreds of Italian and German incunabula. To this famous library the Duke next added that of M. Armand Cigongne, a collection composed almost exclusively of works in French—volumes of prose and poetry, exquisitely bound, and many of them still bearing the coats-of-arms and book-plates of former proprietors.
The most important acquisition, however, (added in 1855), was the famous illuminated MS. known as Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, an unique example of primitive French Art, to a description of which we shall return later on.
In course of time other additions were made of great value and interest: such as, for instance, Les Fables de Marie de France, Le Roman d’Aspremont (thirteenth century), a copious selection of ballads and songs of the fourteenth century, and many other works of note, amongst them being a copy in four volumes of the Songs of Laborde, illustrated with original designs by Moreau.
In the year 1861 the Duc d’Aumale, for the moderate sum of 14,000 francs, purchased from the well-known connoisseur M. Reiset a collection of no less than 380 drawings by Italian, Flemish, Dutch, and German masters. Amongst these may be specially noted: A Reading Monk, by Raphael (hung in the Galerie du Logis), and a design, dated approximately 1505, which approaches in execution the St. Catherine in the Gallery of the Louvre.18 Here are also drawings attributed to Verrocchio: a Warrior on Horseback, five studies of horses, and an interesting drawing of A Man and Woman, all in the style of Pisanello.
La Joconde (also in the Galerie du Logis), a cartoon for the picture attributed to Leonardo da Vinci at St. Petersburg, came from the Reiset Collection, as also did studies for Signorelli’s Last Judgment at Orvieto; studies for Michael Angelo’s Prophets in the Sixtine Chapel; and drawings by Fra Bartolomeo for his great composition in the Pitti. A fine group of eleven figures by Lucas van Leyden, illustrating The Return of the Prodigal Son, is one of the most important items in this series; and a study of a Virgin by Dürer, an interesting Portrait by Holbein the elder, a Mountainous Landscape by Rembrandt, and certain studies of costume attributed to Pisanello, etc., are all worthy of more than a passing notice.
Orléans House was soon found to be far too small to contain all these treasures, and an annexe was built to it. The Duc d’Aumale presently organised an exhibition, to which he invited the members of the Burlington Fine Arts Club. Disraeli, who was present, and was much struck by what he saw on that occasion, referred to him in his speech at the anniversary of the Foundation of the Royal Literary Fund in the following appropriate words: “Happy the prince who, though exiled from his palaces and military pursuits through no fault of his own, finds a consolation in books and an occupation in the rich domain of Art. Happy the prince who, whilst living on terms of equality with the people of a strange country, still distinguishes himself by the superiority of his noble mind and character. Happy the prince who in adverse circumstances can defy fate and make conquests in the kingdom of letters, which cannot, like dynastic authority, be taken away from him.” The great statesman here alluded to the stupendous historical work in seven volumes on the History of the Princes de Condé upon which the Duke was at that time occupied.
It must be remembered that these more recent acquisitions were supplementary to the already existing collection which His Royal Highness had inherited as heir to the last Prince de Condé—a collection which comprised, amongst other things, two fine Van Dycks (the Princesse de Barbançon and the Comte de Berghe), paintings by Christophe Huet, by Desportes and by Oudry, and precious Gobelins and Beauvais tapestries.
Furthermore yet another collection came into the Duke’s possession on the death of his father-in-law, the Prince of Salerno, and with it no less than seventy-two paintings, including works by Andrea del Sarto, Luca Longhi, Giulio Romano, Luca Penni, Perin del Vaga, Daniele di Volterra, Baroccio, Bronzino, Mazzola, Carracci, a Portrait by Moroni, a Guido Reni, a Spada, an Albano, a Portrait of Himself by Guercino, a fine Madonna by Sassoferrato, two landscapes by Gaspar Dughet, and several paintings by Salvator Rosa.
Examples of the Northern Schools in this same collection include portraits of Elisabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I of England, by Mierevelt and of the Duke of Neubourg by Van Dyck.
In the Salerno Collection is an interesting little work by Ingres representing Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini in the ecstasy of their first kiss, and also a portrait of a Young Woman by Van Loo and some fine mosaics from Herculaneum and Pompeii.
Although this Salerno Collection is full of interest in itself, compared with later acquisitions it is but of secondary importance. It was French Art that chiefly attracted the Duke, and he consequently missed no opportunity of extending his purchases in that direction. From the well-known firm of Colnaghi in Pall Mall he bought portraits of members of the Valois family, such as, for instance, Henri II as a child (attributed to Clouet), and as King by Primaticcio; the Comte de Cossé Brissac; Madame and Mademoiselle de Longueville, by Beauburn; and other portraits by Mignard, Largillière, etc.
At the Bernal Sale in 1855 he acquired for 6,000 francs the much-discussed portrait of Odet de Coligny; portraits of Queen Eleonore, of Henri II, of Henri III, of Elisabeth of Austria, and of Louis XIV, the last named of these being by Hyacinthe Rigaud.
At the famous Utterson Sale the Prince acquired some of those wonderful sixteenth-century French drawings which formed the nucleus of his unique collection of this branch of art; and at about the same period he also bought a number of engravings, amongst which were fine examples by Marc Antonio Raimondi and Rembrandt.
From the collection of his brother the Duke of Orleans he bought The Assassination of the Duc de Guise by Delaroche, and a painting by Descamps; and at the Lawrence Sale in 1856 secured a portrait of his ancestor Philippe Egalité by Sir Joshua Reynolds. This was apparently a sketch for the life-size portrait commissioned by the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV) during the French Prince’s exile in England. The larger picture, formerly at Carlton House, was destroyed by fire in 1820, which greatly enhances the value of the sketch at Chantilly.
The portraits of Mazarin and Richelieu by Philippe de Champaigne, now at Chantilly, were formerly at Château d’Eu, and formed part of Louis Philippe’s collection, as also did de Troy’s Déjeuner d’Huîtres and Lancret’s Déjeuner de Jambon. From the same source came two splendid cabinets by Riesener and the Beauvais furniture now in one of the salons of the Petit Château.
The Prince was evidently a great admirer of Poussin, for in 1854 he acquired for 9,175 francs the celebrated Massacre of the Innocents, and in 1860 another work by the same master, Thésée découvrant l’épée de son père, which is typical of that artist’s particular style.
At the Northwick Sale in 1859 yet another Poussin, The Infancy of Bacchus, was added; besides a large panel by Perugino, an early work, once in the Church of San Girolamo at Lucca. An interesting painting representing a Dance of Angels, probably by a Sienese master of the fifteenth century, came also from this same sale. Titian’s Ecce Homo was bought for 15,000 francs from the Averoldi family of Brescia, for whom it is said to have been painted.19
The Woman taken in Adultery (attributed to Giorgione), The Martyrdom of St. Stephen by Annibale Carracci, and Mars and Venus by Paolo Veronese were bought in London in 1860 from M. Nieuwenhuys; and in 1864 at a public sale in Paris the celebrated painting by Ingres representing The Story of Antiochus and Stratonice fell, amid general applause, to the lot of the Duc d’Aumale for 92,100 francs.
Rosa Bonheur’s A Shepherd in the Pyrenees, presented by the Duke to his wife, was acquired next, together with Gérome’s Le Duel après le Bal and Protais’ Avant et après le Combat.
From the Soltykoff Sale in Paris, for the sum of 54,000 francs, came the four large portraits in Limoges enamel representing Henri d’Albret, King of Navarre, Antoine de Bourbon, Louis de Bourbon, and Catherine de Lorraine.
In 1865 Baron Triqueti, who often represented the Prince at these sales, was sent to Paris to acquire the famous Pourtales vase, a Greek amphora with red figures of the time of Phidias. For this interesting work of art he paid 10,000 francs; whilst two small Greek bronzes—one representing Jupiter and the other a statuette of Minerva—were knocked down to him for 8,000 and 19,300 francs respectively. Upon this occasion the Duke was bidding against the Louvre, the British Museum, and Monsieur Thiers. These two bronzes, which were found near Besançon, are of unequal merit; the Jupiter is of only average workmanship; but the Minerva statuette is considered one of the greatest treasures at Chantilly. Léon Heuzey places it in the late archaic period at a time when the Greeks were still endeavouring to ennoble and beautify their goddess before they finally arrived at the height of their ideal in the famous Athena of Lemnos. The fact that this statuette was found at Besançon indicates how highly Greek Art was valued, not only in Rome, but also in Cisalpine Gaul; for such small portable figures often accompanied their owners on their journeys, and who knows what great personage it may have been who brought this exquisite little Minerva with him to Gaul? We know that Tiberius never travelled without his much-cherished Amazon of the Vatican.
A fragment of an antique sarcophagus representing Bacchus and Ariadne was acquired for 7,200 francs at the Nolivos Sale and is exhibited now in the Salle Minerve along with the above-mentioned statuettes and some charming Tanagra figures.
On the death of his mother, Queen Marie Amélie, the Duc d’Aumale inherited a great many family portraits and miniatures, the most noteworthy among these being a life-size portrait of Gaston d’Orléans by Van Dyck, of which there is a replica in the Radnor Collection. This painting was given to Louis Philippe by George IV and was probably painted at the request of Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, who was a sister of the Royal sitter. There is not the slightest resemblance in his features to the good King Henri IV, his father. Treachery lurks in his mouth and eyes, and we cannot help being reminded that he was the direct cause of the execution of the last Montmorency.
From the same source came a portrait of Queen Marie Amélie herself, painted by Gérard in 1817, and likenesses of the same Queen and two of her daughters by Vigée Le Brun; a portrait of Louis Philippe as Duc d’Orléans, when professor at Reichenau, by Winterhalter; and others of Philippe Egalité and his charming wife, a daughter of the Duc de Penthièvre, and of the Duc d’Aumale as a child by Robert Fleury. Most of the gems and miniatures are likewise from the collection of Queen Marie Amélie; and to the miniatures, in course of time, were added others of members of the Royal Family of France bought by the Duke himself, such as of Anne de Bretagne, François I, Gabrielle d’Estrées and her two sons, Henri II, Henri IV, and Sully, the famous Minister of Finance; of the Duc de Guise (le Balafré), Marie de Medicis, Marie Thérèse, Queen of Louis XIV, the Grand Dauphin and his wife Marie Anne of Bavaria, and many more.
In 1865 Mr. Colnaghi sold to the Duke Meissonier’s Les Dragons sous Louis XV and a landscape by S. W. Reynolds, who is best known as an engraver. The charming portrait of Maria, Lady Waldegrave with her Daughter by Sir Joshua, was bequeathed to the Duke by Frances, Countess of Waldegrave; and Lord Holland in 1860 presented him with Talleyrand’s portrait by Ary Scheffer. From Sir Charles Robinson the Duc d’Aumale acquired some fine Italian manuscripts, and an interesting Rheno-Byzantine painting representing the Emperor Otto I seated between two allegorical female figures, each holding a small globe signifying the vassal states of the Empire. This painting, which is of considerable historical value, is apparently a detached portion of a MS. illuminated for the Emperor about the year 1000. From the same source came another fragment, a Resurrection, dating from the fourteenth century and belonging to the Sienese School. This hangs in the Rotonde near a miniature of a Christ on the Cross attributed to Giulio Clovio.
In 1868, two years before his exile was suddenly terminated by the downfall of the second Empire, the Duc d’Aumale bought for the sum of 600,000 francs the collection of the Marquis Maison; and amongst the pictures which formed it were eight Descamps, three Marilhats, one Gros, four Watteaus, four Greuzes and two paintings by Prud’hon. After that followed the acquisition of one of Fromentin’s finest works, La Chasse au Faucon en Algérie; whilst a sea-piece by Vandervelde together with the Dunes at Scheveningen by Ruysdael were bought at the San Donato Sale.
Presently there came the celebrated Vierge de la Maison d’Orléans by Raphael, which the Duke acquired at the Delessert Sale for the sum of 160,000 francs—a fascinating picture supposed to be one of the two panels described by Vasari as having been painted for Guidobaldo di Montefeltro, and of which he says “that they were small but exceedingly beautiful examples of the master’s second manner.”20 At one time in the possession of Gaston d’Orléans, this charming work passed from France into Flanders at the end of the sixteenth century, where it is supposed to have belonged to David Teniers the Younger. Passavant thought that it was then that the background was repainted and the shelf with the various pots and vases added—a supposition which has, however, since been refuted. The youthful Madonna is seated on a cushioned bench in a small homely room; and behind her hangs a light curtain of reddish grey. She bends tenderly over the Infant Christ, who gazes intently at the spectator with an expression full of feeling and inspiration. This is perhaps the most divine-looking of all Raphael’s Infants. The Bridgewater Madonna, seated on a similar seat in a homely habitation, is closely analogous to the Virgin in this work, but instead of the shelf there is an arched window to the right. The lights in both pictures are subtle and extremely delicate, whilst the shadows are in strongly marked contrast.
In the eighteenth century the Orléans Madonna subsequently returned to France to the house of the well-known collector Crozat, from whence it passed into the Orléans Gallery and obtained thus its distinctive appellation. During the Revolution this entire collection was transported to Brussels, and the Madonna changed hands several times before it finally entered the haven of the Musée Condé.
When the Duc d’Aumale returned to Chantilly after an absence of twenty years, he at once formed as we have seen a plan for erecting a museum upon the ruins of the old Château, with the further intention of presenting the mansion with all its contents to the French nation. Many years, however, elapsed before the building was complete and ready to receive all the treasures which it was destined to hold; but meanwhile the Duke continued to increase the collection by munificent and judicious purchases.
At the Faure Sale in 1873, Delacroix’s dramatic composition of The Two Foscari was acquired; in 1877 there were added the four Tanagra figures which now adorn the case wherein the Minerva is enshrined; and an exquisite example of Italian enamel, representing Apollo guiding the Chariot of the Sun (attributed to Benvenuto Cellini), was bought from M. Cadard for 6,000 francs.
In 1876 a very important acquisition was made in the shape of a collection of French portraits, once in the possession of Gaignières but subsequently belonging to Alexandre Lenoir, from whom it had passed into England and become the property of the then Duke of Sutherland. This collection, which was at Stafford House until the Duc d’Aumale acquired it, consists of no less than 69 painted portraits, 148 drawings in coloured chalk and several pastels. Amongst the most interesting of these portraits are: Francis I (painted about 1515), his sister, Marguerite d’Angoulême, and her husband, Henri d’Albret, King of Navarre; Jeanne d’Albret; Admiral de Coligny, and his brother the Cardinal; Catherine de Medicis, Diane de Poitiers, Charles IX, Henri III, the Duc d’Alençon, and the Duc de Nemours (all attributed to François Clouet); Marguerite de France, and Madame de Lansac (attributed to Corneille de Lyon); Philippe de Clève, Sieur de Ravenstein; Jean de Bugenhagen (attributed to Holbein); Catherine de Bora, the wife of Luther; Charles V; the Count and Countess Hornes; Henri IV (by Pourbus), and an attractive likeness of his daughter Elizabeth, Queen of Spain; Gabrielle d’Estrées au bain; the Duc de Retz; the Duc d’Aumont on horseback; Sully and Charost (by Quesnel); George I; several portraits by Mignard, among them a magnificent likeness of Molière, another of Mazarin, and two pastels representing Colbert and Quinault. From the same collection are the portraits of Pope Benedict XIV by Subleyras and of Marie Antoinette as Hebe by Drouais.
Another portrait which attracts much notice is that of Antoine de Bourgogne, the Grand Bâtard, the second of the nineteen illegitimate sons of Philippe le Bon. This painting was presented to the Duc d’Aumale by the Duke of Sutherland. It is an exquisite work of art which has been variously attributed to Memling, to Roger van der Weyden, and to Ugo van der Goes, but it is to the last-named artist that it can be assigned with greater probability. The Grand Bâtard21 wears the Order of the Golden Fleece instituted by his father at Bruges in 1430, and appears to be about forty years of age, the period of life when he gained his great victory over the Moors at Ceuta. He was not only a valiant warrior, but also an arduous bibliophile and collector. His Château of La Roche contained many interesting illuminated manuscripts now dispersed, and of these the Froissart at Breslau is amongst the most celebrated. Like all those that belonged to him, it bears his autograph “ob de Bourgogne” “ob” being an abbreviation of the Greek word ὁβαλὁς, which means bâtard.22
The drawings of this Sutherland Collection, especially those belonging to the sixteenth century, are less important, many of them appearing to be copies by inferior hands; those, however, of the seventeenth century by Quesnel and Dumoustier are first-rate. Among the portraits in pastel may be noted likenesses of Madame de Montespan, Louis XIII, Gaston d’Orléans, Louis de Haros, and an interesting portrait of Watteau designed by Boucher after an original by Watteau himself.
In 1877 the Duc d’Aumale availed himself of another opportunity of restoring to France a French collection which had been brought to England, namely, that of M. Carmontelle, which comprised no less than 450 coloured sketches for portraits which date from the year 1757 to the year 1775. Carmontelle, as tutor to the Duc de Chartres, had plenty of opportunity during his leisure hours to sketch all the men and women with whom he came in contact, which he did merely for his own amusement, without any expectation of payment. The facility with which he executed these sketches astonished even Grimm, who remarked upon his skill. In about two hours each, with the greatest ease, he reproduced all the most noticeable figures in the life of the period, from the Dauphin and his courtiers, the Princes and Princesses of the House of Bourbon and Orléans, the officers, ladies and gentlemen, ecclesiastics, musicians and actors, down to the domestics, and even the floor-scrubber at Saint-Cloud. These sketches amounted at the time of his death to the number of 700, and in 1807 were bought en bloc by his friend Richard de Ledans, who disposed of a good many of them. When he died in 1816 450 drawings only were left. These were at once bought by Pierre de la Mesangère, editor of Le Journal des Dames et des Modes, and they form an exceedingly valuable record of the fashions at the time of Louis XV.
In 1831 the Carmontelle drawings reappeared in Scotland in the Duff-Gordon-Duff Collection, whence they were acquired by the Duc d’Aumale for the sum of 112,500 francs, to add to other examples of this artist’s work, particularly a portrait of Carmontelle himself, which he already possessed. They are now stored in large portfolios in the Salle Caroline at Chantilly, and, catalogued with comments and notes by the late Anatole Gruyer, afford great pleasure and amusement to those who have leisure to examine them.
The next acquisitions were a number of paintings collected by M. Reiset, who had already, as we have seen above, passed on his drawings to the indefatigable Duke. The price paid for these was 600,000 francs, and they include no less than twenty-five pictures of the Italian School, amongst which we may mention the following: a small panel representing the Death of the Virgin, attributed to Giotto (unfortunately much repainted); The Coronation of the Virgin, by Giovanni del Ponte di San Stefano; an allegorical figure representing Autumn, attributed to Botticelli23; an Annunciation by Francia and a Holy Family by Jacopo Palma; several Luinis and two small Filippo Lippis; and an exquisite little Madonna holding the Infant Christ by Bissolo. The Marriage of St. Francis of Assisi to Poverty, by Sassetta (formerly assigned to his pupil Sano di Pietro) is one of the most attractive works by this master. It once formed part of an altarpiece at S. Severino, long since broken up and dispersed. Several smaller panels from the same altarpiece are to be found in the Chalendon Collection in Paris, and one belongs to M. le Comte Martel; whilst the central portion is in the possession of Mr. B. Berenson.24
In the painting at Chantilly Sassetta may be seen at the height of his imaginative power.25 An atmosphere of religious calm breathes over the landscape from which the three figures of Chastity, Humility and Poverty are floating upwards; the latter turning to wave a last friendly greeting to the Saint whom they are leaving on earth. It is full of the naïve sentiment for which this artist is so conspicuous.
Another interesting painting which belonged to the Reiset Collection is the portrait of Simonetta Vespucci, formerly assigned to Pollaiuolo, but attributed by Dr. G. Frizzoni to Piero di Cosimo. Simonetta was a young Genoese lady renowned for her beauty, who came to Florence as the wife of a Cattini. Poliziano wrote sonnets upon her charms, and Giuliano dei Medici fell madly in love with her. Among the numerous likenesses of her by Botticelli and others, in the National Gallery, at Berlin, and elsewhere, this one in the Musée Condé seems to be the most lifelike. Reiset bought this portrait in 1841 from the last member of the Vespucci family.
Attention may here be drawn to a fine sea-piece by Everdingen, the master of Ruysdael; to two small portraits of a Husband and Wife of the Van Eyck School; and to a Procession attributed to Dierick Bouts—all excellent examples of the Dutch School.
An extremely interesting picture, now known to be of French origin, came also from the Reiset Gallery, namely, The Virgin as Protector of the Human Race26—a work executed in 1452 by Charonton and Vilatte for Jean Cadard and his wife, and of special importance in the history of French painting.
Five large Poussins, two Gaspar Dughets, a portrait of Napoleon by Gerard; and no less than three works by Ingres came also from this same source: namely, the Artist’s own portrait as a youth, a portrait of a Madame Devançay, and the painting of Venus Anadyomene, upon which he is known to have spent much time and thought throughout the last forty years of his life.
Finally, to all these other treasures were added some drawings by Prud’hon. Then in 1882, from the Hamilton Palace Sale interesting portraits by Corneille de Lyon, and a small likeness of Montaigne probably by a late pupil of that master; and at various subsequent London sales drawings were purchased by Botticelli, Canaletto, Tiepolo, Salomon Ruysdael, Dumoustier, Ingres, Van Loo, and Gericault, besides a great number of engravings.
Whilst the Duke was making these important acquisitions he was at the same time gradually rebuilding the old Château of the Condés in order to house them adequately, and it is not to be wondered at that intellectual France took a great interest in this vast artistic enterprise. His Royal Highness was elected a Member of the Institut de France and invited to occupy the chair of M. de Cardaillac at the Académie des Beaux Arts. It was on this occasion that Victor Hugo, whom the Prince had referred to in his address of eulogy upon his predecessor, wrote him the following memorable letter:
Cher et Royal Confrère,
Je viens de lire vos nobles paroles sur moi. Je vous ecris emu. Vous êtes né prince et devenu homme. Pour moi votre royauté a cessé d’être politique et maintenant est historique; ma république ne s’en inquiète pas. Vous faites partie de la grandeur de la France. Et je vous aime.27
It was, however, during the last years of his life that the Duke really made his most important acquisitions. In 1885, for the sum of £3,800, he bought from Mr. Fuller Russell the charming diptych painted in 1466 for Jeanne de France, daughter of Charles VII. This painting was formerly attributed to Memling, but Count Paul Durrieu now assigns it to Zanetto Bugatto of Milan, one of that master’s greatest pupils in Italy.
In the same year Raphael’s picture of the Three Graces was purchased for the sum of £30,000 from the executors of the Earl of Dudley—a panel so small as not to exceed the dimensions of a man’s hand. The youthful Raphael in this composition was clearly inspired by the beautiful antique marble group at Siena; and we may observe how the genius of two great artists in two such diverse epochs can be happily blended together. The Three Graces at Chantilly and The Dream of a Knight at the National Gallery are not far apart and may probably both be dated at about 1500-1503; but around the former picture there seems to hang some unsolved problem. The Duc d’Aumale expresses himself about it in the following terms: “Are these really the Three Graces whom we have here before us? Or was it not rather the intention of Raphael to represent the Three Ages of Womanly Beauty? To the left the virgin with a veil around her slender hips; to the right the woman in her prime wearing a necklace of coral; and in the centre, with her back turned to the spectator, the woman in her full maturity, merely exhibiting her fine profile. Does not this picture imply that Woman at all ages holds in her hand the Empire of the World?”
This little panel, originally in the Borghese Gallery, passed successively into the collections of Reboul, Fabre, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Woodburn, and Lord Dudley whence it finally entered the sanctuary of the Musée Condé.
Another important picture of the Italian School is the cassone panel representing King Ahasuerus and Esther.28 This was originally painted for the Torrigiani family of Florence and was formerly ascribed to Filippino Lippi; but modern art-criticism assigns it to the suppositious “Amico di Sandro,” who, if he really did paint it, has almost surpassed Filippino in both beauty and grace.
Another panel from the same cassone, representing the Second Appearance of Esther before Ahasuerus, is in the possession of Leopold Goldschmidt at Paris; whilst the two side panels of Mordecai on Horseback and Esther as Queen walking in her Garden are in the Lichtenstein Gallery at Vienna.
One more Italian picture deserves notice. It is a replica of the famous composition which passed some years ago from the collection of Prince Chigi in Rome into that of Mrs. John Gardiner at Boston, U.S.A. It represents the Virgin and the Holy Child attended by an angel who offers the latter roses. This picture has much of the charm of both Botticelli and Filippino but is by neither of them. It is the work of some unknown but unquestionably highly gifted artist.
In spite of these important purchases of Italian pictures the Duc d’Aumale never neglected an opportunity of acquiring French works of art, and he extended his collection as far as possible in that particular direction. So that from M. Destailleur, from the Comte de Fresnes, and from the Baron Seillier he acquired books that had been bound expressly for François I, for Henri II and for Marguerite de Valois. At the Hamilton Palace Sale he purchased for 12,375 francs a Book of Hours of the fourteenth century which had been specially bound for its then owner, François de Guise. In 1892 the sumptuous Psalter of Ingeburge of Denmark, wife of Philippe Auguste, found its way into this ever-increasing collection; and this was quickly followed by the interesting Breviary executed in the fourteenth century for Queen Jeanne d’Evreux.
In 1889 more than 310 French drawings were acquired from Lord Carlisle, including original work by Jean Perréal, by Jean and François Clouet, by Corneille de Lyon and by the Dumoustiers. The artistic, iconographic and historical value of these drawings has been pronounced on all hands to be almost unique; more especially with regard to the portraits of celebrated personages living between the years 1514 and 1560. Francis I with his Queens, his mistresses, his courtiers, and the ladies of his petites bandes; the famous Preux de Marignan, the great Montmorency and the Colignys, Henri II and his numerous sons and daughters; Catherine de Medicis and la belle Diane—all these famous heroes and heroines of history are met together in effigy at Chantilly: a place they all knew so well and enjoyed so much during their lifetime. The question of how these drawings, so highly valued under the Valois régime, were ever allowed to leave France has never been satisfactorily solved. Horace Walpole possessed a similar collection, but it was of much less artistic importance. It was the collection once owned by Mariette and is now apparently in the possession of an English peer.29 Gaignières also collected French drawings of the same type, but after his death they greatly depreciated in value and passed from the Bibliothèque Royale into the Bodleian Library at Oxford. But the Howard portfolio, the most important of all, and also the Salting Collection were discovered in Florence. It is certain that there is a common link between all of the sets, and similar handwritings are to be found upon the margins of most of them. We must, however, postpone further discussion on this interesting question until a later chapter.
In 1889 the great painting by Meissonier, Les Cuirassiers de 1805, was bought at the Secrétan Sale for the sum of 190,000 francs; and soon after came Détaille’s finest work, Le Colonel Lepic à Eylau: “Haut les Têtes.”
In 1890 Corot’s Concert Champêtre cost the Duke 20,000 francs and proved how fully he appreciated the more recent art-movements in France.
His Royal Highness made his last acquisition in 1891, perhaps the most important of all, and one which certainly procured for him immense satisfaction—namely, forty miniatures by the famous Jean Fouquet from the Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier. These unique treasures were purchased from Herr Brentano of Frankfurt for the sum of 250,000 francs and will be fully described presently.
The Musée Condé affords the most unique opportunities for the study of French art. The Wallace Collection may be richer in the work of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, but there is nothing in that collection which can compare with the examples of French fifteenth and sixteenth century art enshrined at the Musée Condé; for example, the exquisite miniatures of the Brothers Limbourg and of Jean Fouquet, or the precious pencil portraits by the Valois Court-Painters. It is to these that closer attention will be drawn in the following chapters.