![Pierre Crozat (1661-1740)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Pierre_Crozat_%281661-1740%29.jpg)
Pierre Crozat (1665–1740) was a French financier, art patron and collector at the center of a broad circle of ''cognoscenti''; he was the brother of
Antoine Crozat
Antoine Crozat, Marquis du Châtel (c. 1655 – 7 June 1738), French founder of an immense fortune, was the first proprietary owner of French Louisiana, from 1712 to 1717.
Career
Antoine Crozat and his brother Pierre Crozat were born in Toulo ...
.
Biography
The brothers Crozat were born in
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...
, France, the sons of a wealthy banking family. They moved to Paris around 1700 and rose from obscurity to become two of the wealthiest
financier
An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...
s of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. Pierre was known as ''Crozat le pauvre'', to distinguish him from his even-wealthier brother.
Pierre Crozat was one of the most prominent French financiers and collectors, becoming the treasurer to the king in Paris in 1704, when he built the
Hôtel de Crozat
The Hôtel de Crozat, later the Hôtel de Choiseul, was a Parisian ''hôtel particulier'', constructed in 1704 to the designs of the French architect for the rich banker and art collector Pierre Crozat. It was located on the west side of the ru ...
on the rue de Richelieu and his magnificent country retreat, the
Château de Montmorency.
From 1714 until the purchase was finally concluded in 1721, he worked as agent and negotiator for the Regent,
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Charles; 2 August 1674 – 2 December 1723), was a French prince, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is referred to in French as ''le Régent''. ...
, on the purchase in Rome of the art collection of
Queen Christina of Sweden for the
Orleans Collection
The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Euro ...
. His friend, the sculptor
Pierre Le Gros the Younger
Pierre Le Gros (12 April 1666 Paris – 3 May 1719 Rome) was a French sculptor, active almost exclusively in Baroque Rome where he was the pre-eminent sculptor for nearly two decades.Gerhard Bissell, ''Pierre le Gros, 1666–1719'', Reading ...
who was living in Rome, acted as a go-between in the negotiations until his death in 1719.
Patron of the arts
Charles de La Fosse
Charles de La Fosse (or Lafosse; 15 June 1636 – 13 December 1716) was a French painter born in Paris.
Life
He was one of the most noted and least servile pupils of Le Brun, under whose direction he shared in the chief of the great decorativ ...
, who lived in Crozat's Parisian hôtel as his guest and died there in 1716, painted the vaulted ceiling there with ''La Naissance de Minerve'' (''The Birth of
Minerva
Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Rom ...
'') and delivered several paintings for Montmorency. As Crozat's house guest in 1715–16, Le Gros decorated a cabinet in the hôtel as well as the chapel in Montmorency.
[Gerhard Bissell, ''Pierre le Gros, 1666–1719'', ]Reading, Berkshire
Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...
1997, pp. 16–19.
Antoine Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, a ...
, of whom Crozat was the principal patron, painted a cycle of the ''Four Seasons'' for his Parisian dining room.
Collector
Crozat began gradually to acquire a notable collection of paintings, old master drawings, and ''objets d'art'', sometimes referred to as the "Cabinet Crozat". His collection of old master drawings was already one of the most important in France at the beginning of the 18th century. Among his paintings was
Annibale Carracci's ''
Self-Portrait on an Easel''.
Between 1729 and 1742, a finely-illustrated, two-volume work was published, known as the "Recueil Crozat", including reproductive prints of some of the finest paintings and drawings in French collections. Many of his old master drawings, catalogued by
Pierre-Jean Mariette
Pierre-Jean Mariette (7 May 1694 – 10 September 1774) was a collector of and dealer in old master prints, a renowned connoisseur, especially of prints and drawings, and a chronicler of the careers of French Italian and Flemish artists. He wa ...
, one of the four acknowledged expert connoisseurs in Paris, were dispersed at auction in Paris in 1741. That occasion was termed by
Michael Jaffé
Andrew Michael Jaffé (3 June 1923 – 13 July 1997) was a British art historian and curator. He was Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England for 17 years, from 1973 to 1990.
Life
Born in London, he was educated at Wagner's ...
as "the greatest public sale of drawings held in the ''dix-huitième''."
Most of Crozat's treasures were inherited by his nephews, Louis François (d. 1750), Joseph Antoine (d. 1750), and Louis Antoine (d. 1770), who added to the collection. The works of art were dispersed after the nephews' deaths. Louis Antoine Crozat's collection was bought in 1772, through
Denis 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 promi ...
and Vasiliy Rudanovsky, by
Catherine II of Russia and went to the
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...
in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.
File:Danae painting.jpg, Rembrandt's painting '' Danae'' from Crozat's collection
File:Primaticcio, Francesco – Holy Family with St Elizabeth and John the Baptist.jpg, Primaticcio
Francesco Primaticcio (April 30, 1504 – 1570) was an Italian Mannerist painter, architect and sculptor who spent most of his career in France.
Biography
Born in Bologna, he trained under Giulio Romano in Mantua and became a pupil of ...
's ''Holy Family'' was purchased for Catherine (Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...
)
See also
*
:Crozat collection
References
Further reading
*Barbara Scott, ''Pierre Crozat. A Maecenas of the Régence'', in: Apollo 97:1973, pp. 11–20.
*Margret Stuffmann, ''Les tableaux de la collection de Pierre Crozat'', in: Gazette des Beaux Arts 110:1968, pp. 11–144.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crozat, Pierre
1661 births
1740 deaths
French financiers
French art collectors
Businesspeople from Toulouse
Occitan people
17th-century French businesspeople
18th-century French businesspeople