French Drawings from the Mariette Collection (1694-1774)
An enlightened and passionate amateur, Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774) created one of the most fascinating collections of the entire 18th century, consisting of around ten thousand individual works, in which drawing took centre stage.
Masterpieces by the great artists are displayed alongside the artistic equivalent of "purple prose" by minor masters, following the encyclopaedic approach adopted by this "brilliant jack-of-all-trades and master of many".
Several major art historians took up the daunting challenge of reconstructing this legendary collection, tracking down drawings that used to belong to Mariette in public and private collections all over the world. The Louvre Museum has organised an exhibition to mark the publication of the first two volumes.
