Charles Léoffroy de Saint-Yves (7 October 1717 – 2 February 1804) was an art critic and collector in Paris.

Life and career

Léoffroy de Saint-Yves was born in Paris on 7 October 1717, and belonged to a lineage of doctors that started with the ophthalmologist

Charles Saint-Yves Charles Saint-Yves, or Charles de Saint-Yves, (1667 – August 3, 1731) was a French ophthalmologist, famous for his treatment of the cataract and his treatise on ophthalmology. Life and career Saint-Yves was born in 1667 at Maubert-Fontaine ...

. Pursuant to a formation at the college Louis-Le Grand under the famous jesuit Porée he also became an ophthalmologist and practised with his father Etienne Léoffroy Saint-Yves at Paris, rue Saint-Thomas du Louvre. After the latter's death, Léoffroy de Saint-Yves soon abandoned practice and applied the sound family fortune that had been bequeathed to him to the arts. He became a famous art collector and a critic, in the lineage of his great-uncle painter Saint-Yves. He spent his last seven years in Normandy (Vernon?) and died on 2 February 1804.

Collector

Léoffroy de Saint-Yves's collections included essential works from the best Parisian collections, and in particular Boucher,

Conti Conti is an Italian surname. Geographical distribution As of 2014, 63.5% of all known bearers of the surname ''Conti'' were residents of Italy (frequency 1:756), 11.8% of the United States (1:24,071), 9.2% of Brazil (1:17,439), 6.3% of Argentina ...

, Huquier, Lempereur, Mariette, van Loo. It also counted many valuable engravings from Dürer,

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

ou Nanteuil. Most of them was sold during May 2_15th, 1805 public sale in Paris. Various art publications of the time, in particular the ''Annales de la calcographie générale'' with Léoffroy de Saint-Yves' obituary, detailed the collection: "''Among numerous pictures, enamels, drawings, bronze, ivory r terracotta sculptures, one could notice most interesting works from Lucatelli, Vannins, Barbicri, Biscaino, Breughel dit de Velours, P. Potier, Will, Baur, Petitot, Liagelbac, Bachnysen, Hondekoeter, François Flamand, Warnès, le Nain, Patel, la Fosse, la Saye, le Puget, François Guérin, Blaremberg, Hue , et Van-Spaendonck. Mr de Saint-Yves's cabinet of engravings included master pieces from Marco Antonio, Guil. Bonasoni, Stef. Delia Bella, Vanni, Agos. et Ann. Caracci, Giorgio et Diana Ghisi de Mantoue, Andreaui, Rota, Biscaino, de Gbein, Vostermau, Franc. VandenSteen, les Bolswert, Pontins, Goltzins, Juc. Matham, Saeuredam, Gondt, Corn. Bloemaert, Rembrandt, Potter, P. Tfolpe, J. Muller, Blootelind, Corn, et Visscher, J. Vande-Velde, Hollur, Natalis, Callot, Mellan, Franc, de Poilly, Masson, Le Clerc, Gir. Audraa, Spierre, Ger. Edelinck, Drevet, and many other crafted engravers of the ancient and present times''»

Art critic

Most of Saint-Yves' reputation however remains only with his publications of art critics during the annual exhibits of the Royal Academy of painting and Sculpture in Paris, which soon gained reputation afterwards with modern art criticism that introduced

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...

and his nine ''Salons'' (1759–1781). See Charles Léoffroy de Saint-Yves's ''Observations sur les arts, et sur quelques morceaux de peinture et de sculpture, exposés au Louvre en 1748; où il est parlé de l'utilité des embellissements dans les villes''

Bibliography

Charles de Saint-Yves, ''Observations sur les arts, et sur quelques morceaux de peinture et de sculpture, exposés au Louvre en 1748; où il est parlé de l'utilité des embellissements dans les villes''. Leyde, E. Luzac Jr., 1748. Catalogue of 1805 public auction : ''Catalogue raisonné du Cabinet de feu Mr. Charles Léoffroy de Saint-Yves. Estampes, tableaux, dessins, miniatures, sculptures, livres etc...'' Paris, 1805, F.L. Regnault, peintre & graveur et Silvestre, libraire ''Annales de la calcographie générale'', Paris 1806, Vallin & Gillé fils, P. 8-11 ''Encyclopédie moderne, ou dictionnaire abrégé des hommes et des choses des sciences, des lettres et des arts'', Lejeune, Paris 1829, p. 179 {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Yves, Charles De 1717 births 1804 deaths French art critics Writers from Paris French male non-fiction writers