The Orléans Collection: The personal collection of Philippe II, the Duke of Orleans

Exhibition Website

Oct 26 2018 - Jan 27 2019

    

In celebration of the tricentennial of the city that bears his regal title, NOMA presents an exhibition of selections from the magnificent personal collection of French nobleman Philippe II, the Duke of Orléans (1689-1723)

This international loan exhibition brings together masterpieces by Veronese, Tintoretto, Poussin, Rubens, and Rembrandt that formerly graced the walls of the Palais Royal in Paris, the National Gallery of London, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the National Gallery of Scotland -- to tell the story of the collection’s formation, its reputation, and its impact in early 18th century Paris.

The Orléans Collection situates Philippe II as the preeminent collector of his time. The astounding number of paintings recorded at the time of the Duke’s death—772—demonstrate the scope of his collection, which remained in his family for two generations until its sale in London in the 1790s during the French Revolution. Its dispersal represents a watershed event in the history of collecting, and contributed to the formation of Europe’s first public museums, among them, the National Gallery of London.

The Orléans Collection explores aspects of Philippe II’s collection through four guiding themes: the Duke’s residence, the Palais Royal, and its grand redecoration as a center for the arts and exchange in Paris; the diplomatic and personal display of the collection in public and private spaces; the Duke of Orléans’ personal taste and psychology as a collector, and the fame and impact the collection had for visitors, contemporary artists, and collectors in Paris.


Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website 
Image: Alessandro Allori (Italian, 1535-1607), Venus and Amor, 1570s. Oil on panel, 71 1/4 x 102 3/4 in., Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France, © Musée Fabre de Montpellier Méditerranée
Image: Giorgio Vasari (Italian, 1511–1574), Six Tuscan Poets, 1544, Oil on panel, 52 x 51 5/8 in., Minneapolis Institute of Art


Whether or not you go, the companion publication, The Orléans Collection,  presents works of art from the fabled collection of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (1674-1723)—including masterpieces by Raphael, Titian, Veronese, Correggio, Poussin, Rubens, and Rembrandt—bringing them together for the first time since the collection’s sale and dispersal more than two hundred years ago. In this book a representative group of nearly forty works—paintings, books, engravings, and portraits—tell the story of the collection's formation and exceptional character, focusing on such themes as the importance of the collection in the duke’s lifetime; the art market in early eighteenth-century Paris; the display of the collection in public and private spaces; and its widespread fame and resulting impact on visitors and contemporary artists and collectors in Paris.  This volume is both a celebration of the tricentennial of the city of New Orleans, as well as consolidating what is known about Phillippe II’s collection, one of the greatest private collections of Western art ever assembled.

Select The Orléans Collection to to learn more, or to place this book in your Amazon shopping cart. Your Amazon purchase through this link generates a small commission that will help to fund the ArtGeek.art search engine.

  • Painting
  • European
  • Paolo Veronese
  • Jacopo Tintoretto
  • Nicolas Poussin
  • Peter Paul Rubens
  • Rembrandt van Rijn

Exhibition Venues & Dates