Edmé-Antoine Durand (1768-1835) was a French diplomat and art collector.

Life

The son of a rich businessman, Durand acquired a wide variety of objects, both locally on his travels (especially in central Italy) and also by buying items from existing private collections in France (he acquired several antiquities from Malmaison on the death of

Joséphine de Beauharnais Joséphine Bonaparte (, born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie; 23 June 1763 – 29 May 1814) was the first wife of Emperor Napoleon I and as such Empress of the French from 18 May 1804 until their marriage was annulled on 10 Janua ...

, for example). He auctioned off most of his print collection in 1821 and in 1824 he suggested to

Charles X of France Charles X (Charles Philippe; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother of reigning kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported th ...

that the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

buy almost his entire collection of Greek vases and other antiquities, totally several thousand objects and including over 7,000 bronzes. Charles authorized the purchase, which was formalized on 2 March 1825. Durand still owned several hundred vases and a large number of prints on his death - they were auctioned off posthumously in Paris in February 1836 and purchased for the most part by the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

on the advice of the Danish antiquary Peter Oluf Brøndsted.British Museum Collection
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References

External links

*http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=9519 *https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=96889 {{DEFAULTSORT:Durand, Edme-Antoine 1768 births 1835 deaths French art collectors Diplomats for France