Masterpieces from Chantilly, the largest private collection of works by Raphaël in France
28/01/2020
By Mathieu Deldicque, Cultural Heritage Curator at the Musée Condé, Domaine de Chantilly
The 500-year anniversary of Raphaël’s death is the perfect moment to rediscover the largest French collection of his works after the one held at the Louvre. The Condé de Chantilly Museum has the good fortune to have three important paintings and numerous drawings by the artist in its possession. Each was acquired by the greatest French collector of the 19th century, Henri d’Orléans, the Duke of Aumale, who deeply admired Raphaël. We now know much more about not only his motivation for collecting these artworks, but also the way he obtained them, the intermediaries he employed and the competition he faced. Since their acquisition, and even now as an exhibition is being prepared for spring 2020, the treasures of Chantilly keep revealing their secrets. The Duke of Aumale was unaware, for example, that a third painting by the artist was hiding in his collection: it was not in the Getty collection but in Chantilly that the original Madonna of Loreto was discovered in the 1970s! The story of this revelation will be followed by an account of more recent discoveries that have been made about the paintings and drawings by Raphaël held at Chantilly.
Language: FR
Raphael, La Vierge de Lorette © RMN-Grand Palais Domaine de Chantilly-Harry Bréjat
The 500-year anniversary of Raphaël’s death is the perfect moment to rediscover the largest French collection of his works after the one held at the Louvre. The Condé de Chantilly Museum has the good fortune to have three important paintings and numerous drawings by the artist in its possession. Each was acquired by the greatest French collector of the 19th century, Henri d’Orléans, the Duke of Aumale, who deeply admired Raphaël. We now know much more about not only his motivation for collecting these artworks, but also the way he obtained them, the intermediaries he employed and the competition he faced. Since their acquisition, and even now as an exhibition is being prepared for spring 2020, the treasures of Chantilly keep revealing their secrets. The Duke of Aumale was unaware, for example, that a third painting by the artist was hiding in his collection: it was not in the Getty collection but in Chantilly that the original Madonna of Loreto was discovered in the 1970s! The story of this revelation will be followed by an account of more recent discoveries that have been made about the paintings and drawings by Raphaël held at Chantilly.
Language: FR
Raphael, La Vierge de Lorette © RMN-Grand Palais Domaine de Chantilly-Harry Bréjat