DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45257#0234
152 ART TREASURES OF THE MUSEE CONDE
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 Secretan
Sale for the sum of 190,000 francs ; and soon after
came Detailleur’s finest work, Le Colonel Lepic a
Eylau : “ Haut les Teles I'
In 1890 Corot’s Concert Champetre 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
Etienne 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 Musee Conde 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
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 Secretan
Sale for the sum of 190,000 francs ; and soon after
came Detailleur’s finest work, Le Colonel Lepic a
Eylau : “ Haut les Teles I'
In 1890 Corot’s Concert Champetre 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
Etienne 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 Musee Conde 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