The Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy (french: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy), one of the oldest museums in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, is housed in one of the pavilions on

Place Stanislas Place Stanislas is a large pedestrianised square in the French city of Nancy, in the Lorraine historic region. Built between 1752 and 1756 on the orders of Stanisław Leszczyński, the square is one of oldest examples of an architecturally consis ...

, in the heart of the 18th-century urban ensemble, a World Heritage Site by

Unesco The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. The museum displays an important collection of European paintings and is largely open to design, including a gallery dedicated to

Jean Prouvé Jean Prouvé (8 April 1901 – 23 March 1984) was a French metal worker, self-taught architect and designer. Le Corbusier designated Prouvé a constructeur, blending architecture and engineering. Prouvé's main achievement was transferring man ...

or the

Daum factory Daum may refer to: People * Ahron Daum (born 1951), Israeli-born Modern-Orthodox rabbi, educator, and author * Andreas Daum (active from 1995), German-American historian *Auguste Daum (1853–1909), French ceramist * Christoph Daum (born 1953), G ...

History

The Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy is one of the oldest in

. Its foundation intervenes, as for other French museum institutions, during the revolutionary period. The first collections are made from the seizures of the property of the clergy or aristocratic families who emigrate to flee France and the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

. Under the First Empire, with the signing of the peace treaty between France and Austria in Lunéville in 1801, Napoleon I brought 30 paintings from the Central Museum in Lorraine (now the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

). Thus, the museum of Nancy receives a large set of French paintings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The same year, the museum enjoys, like 15 other museums in France, shipments of works under the Chaptal decree. These paintings come from seized French collections or Napoleonic conquests in Italy. Among the first works to form the collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy, some are orders from the ducal family of Lorraine: * The Annunciation by Caravaggio (1608) * a copy of the famous The Wedding of Cana (Veronese) made by Claude Charles in 1702 for the

convent of Cordeliers Nancy A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

. In 1930, the town council decided to convert the building into a museum in order to host the fine art collection hitherto held in the city hall. The museum, called "museum", changes several times in its early history, before being installed by the City Council of 18 May 1825 in the City Hall of Nancy. 1791 - 1792: Hotel of the

University of Nancy A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

(ground floor) 1793 - 1804: old disused chapel of the

Convent of the Visitation Visitation School, also known as Visitation or Vis, is an independent, all-girls, Roman Catholic, college-preparatory, school in Minnesota. It is located in Mendota Heights near Saint Paul. Visitation is a coeducational school for grades Montess ...

1804 - 1814: premises of the old university, current Bibliothèque Patrimoniale de Nancy 1814 - 1828: former Royal College of Medicine (current pavilion occupied by the museum) 1828 - 1936: Nancy Town Hall In 1936, he moved to the pavilion he still occupies at Stanislas, the former Royal College of Medicine. The museum then benefits from an extension due to

Jacques and Michel André Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

Architecture

The pavilion that houses the museum since 1936 belongs to the ensemble designed by the architect

Emmanuel Héré Immanuel ( he, עִמָּנוּאֵל, 'Īmmānū'ēl, meaning, "God is with us"; also romanized: , ; and or in Koine Greek of the New Testament) is a Hebrew name that appears in the Book of Isaiah (7:14) as a sign that God will protect the H ...

in the mid-eighteenth century for the former King of Poland and Duke of Lorraine and Bar, Stanislas. The main facade thus presents a classical style, in a rocaille set inscribed on the

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. This pavilion is installed on the old fortifications of Nancy, including the

bastion of Haussonville A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

(15th century), which the visitor can discover at level -1 of the museum. In 1936, the pavilion was modernized and extended by architects

, laureate of the architectural competition launched by the municipality for the museum, 5 years earlier. The architects propose a wing in the continuity of the XVIIIe pavilion, on two levels. The garden facade is an important part of the architects' project and will be taken up again in 2019 for the poster of the exhibition organized on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the second renovation of the establishment. The double-decker staircase, with

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

lines, all in concrete, is the other highlight of this extension. In February 1999, after spectacular extension work (including a major archaeological excavation), a new contemporary wing designed by

Laurent Beaudouin Laurent may refer to: *Laurent (name), a French masculine given name and a surname **Saint Laurence (aka: Saint ''Laurent''), the martyr Laurent **Pierre Alphonse Laurent, mathematician **Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, amateur astronomer, discoverer ...

's agency was inaugurated. The exhibition surfaces are then multiplied by two, an auditorium is created. In 2001, a storage's room dedicated to the conservation of graphic arts was set up to accommodate a large donation, then anonymous, of more than 15,000 works. The name of the donors is revealed in 2011, with the death of

Jacques Thuiller Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

. The donation today bears the name of Jacques and Guy Thuiller. In 2000,

Felice Varini Felice Varini (born in Locarno in 1952) is a Paris-based, Swiss artist who was nominated for the 2000/2001 Marcel Duchamp Prize. Mostly known for his geometric perspective-localized paintings in rooms and other spaces, using projector-stencil tec ...

made inside the museum Ellipse orange évidée par sept disques, an anamorphosis visible from several floors. In 2002 is installed L'Hommage à Lamour, a work created in situ by

François Morellet François Morellet (30 April 1926 – 10 May 2016) was a French contemporary abstract painter, sculptor, and light artist. His early work prefigured minimal art and conceptual art and he played a prominent role in the development of geometrical a ...

: visible from

and placed on the building of conservation, it is about a large horizontal white rectangle, with in each corner

neon Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypton ...

yellow curved in

volutes A volute is a spiral, scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals. Four are normally to be found on an ...

. In 2012, the museum reopens its doors following lighting and energy saving. A new museography is then born, integrating the creation of a space dedicated to

. At level -1, a gallery is dedicated to Daum glassworks. Spaces are also reserved for graphic or Asian arts. The large collection of paintings is displayed in the 18th century pavilion in chronological order. In 2018, the permanent route is reworked to include works from the Lorrain Museum, deposited during the renovation of the

Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine The Ducal Palace of Nancy (French: ''Palais ducal du Nancy'') is a former princely residence in Nancy, France, which was home to the Dukes of Lorraine. It houses the Musée Lorrain, one of Nancy's principal museums, dedicated to the art, hist ...

. In the future, the museum intends to develop the presentation of contemporary creation.

Collection

Some of the painters whose work is featured in the collections are

Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ear ...

Tintoretto Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed with ...

Jan Brueghel the Younger Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Younger (, ; ; 13 September 1601 – 1 September 1678) was a Flemish Baroque painter. He was the son of Jan Brueghel the Elder, and grandson of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, both prominent painters who c ...

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

Georges de La Tour Georges de La Tour (13 March 1593 – 30 January 1652) was a French Baroque painter, who spent most of his working life in the Duchy of Lorraine, which was temporarily absorbed into France between 1641 and 1648. He painted mostly religious chia ...

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of ...

, Ribera,

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 ...

Claude Gellée Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in It ...

(known as ''Le Lorrain'' and ''Claude''),

Luca Giordano Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain. Ear ...

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

Paul Signac Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style. Biography Paul Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863. H ...

, Modigliani,

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French Fauvism, Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramic art, ceramics and textile as well as decorative schemes for public bu ...

Constance Mayer Marie-Françoise Constance Mayer La Martinière (9 March 1775 – 26 May 1821) was a French painter of portraits, Allegory, allegorical subjects, Portrait miniature, miniatures and genre works. She had "a brilliant but bitter career."Petteys, Ch ...

... File:Les compteurs d'argent Nancy 3018.jpg, Les compteurs d'argent (1575-1600) File:José de Ribera 063.jpg,

José de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to ...

(1591-1652) File:Jan Lievens - Christus aan het kruis.jpg,

Jan Lievens Jan Lievens (24 October 1607 – 4 June 1674) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who was associated with his close contemporary Rembrandt, a year older, in the early parts of their careers. They shared a birthplace in Leiden, training with Pieter La ...

(1607-1674) File:Les évangélistes - Saint Luc - by Tardieu.jpg, Saint Luc. Engraving by

Nicolas-Henri Tardieu Nicolas-Henri Tardieu, called the "Tardieu the elder", (18 January 1674 - 27 January 1749) was a prominent French engraver, known for his sensitive reproductions of Antoine Watteau's paintings. He was appointed ''graveur du roi'' (King's Engraver) ...

after a drawing by

François-Alexandre Verdier François-Alexandre Verdier (c. 1651 - 1730) was French painter, draftsman and engraver. He was a student and assistant of Charles Le Brun. Biography François-Alexandre Verdier was born in Paris around 1651. He studied under Charles Le Bru ...

File:Edouard Manet Automne Mery Laurent.jpg,

(1832-1883) File:Vase Feuilles d'Automne Daum MBAN 24032013.jpg, Vase from Daum File:Toussaint 1888 800.jpg,

Émile Friant Émile Friant (16 April 1863 – 9 June 1932) was a French artist. Friant was born in the commune of Dieuze. He would later be forced to flee to Nancy by the encroachment of the Kingdom of Prussia's soldiers. He exhibited paintings througho ...

(1863-1932) File:Le Démolisseur P Signac Nancy 2718.jpg,

(1863-1935) File:Modigliani Nancy 231207.jpg,

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...

(1884-1920) File:Mayer-elisa-voiart.jpg, Portrait of Élise Voïart by

(1811)

External links

Official museum website

Website in English about the Fine Arts Museum of Nancy
{{Authority control Fine Arts of Nancy Buildings and structures in Nancy, France Museums in Meurthe-et-Moselle Fine Arts of Nancy 1793 establishments in France Tourist attractions in Nancy, France

History

Architecture

Collection

See also

External links