Officer & Gentleman in the 19th CenturyThe Horace His de La Salle Collection

The importance of the role of private collectors in the creation of public drawing collections in France is well known, in particular thanks to the many homages paid to Everhard Jabach, Pierre-Jean Mariette, Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, and Philippe de Chennevières. However, only one small exhibition, at the Musée de Beaux-Arts de Dijon in 1974, has been devoted to the decisive actions of one of the most generous donors of all time to French museums, Aimé Charles Horace His de La Salle (1795–1878), reputed as a lover of drawings, as well as sculptures and objets d’art.

In addition to other French museums, he above all sought to enrich the Louvre, with donations and bequests of 21 paintings and nearly 450 drawings from all different schools.

In order to provide an image faithful to the collector’s taste, the collection’s interdisciplinary character will be highlighted through the participation of four of the Louvre’s departments: Prints and Drawings (67 drawings and one miniature), Paintings (four paintings), Sculptures, and Decorative Arts (seven Renaissance plates and sculptures). This major collection will be complemented by over forty significant works on loan from other museums favored by His de La Salle: Alençon, Dijon, Lyon, the École des Beaux-Arts.

Organised by :

Laurence Lhinares and Louis-Antoine Prat, Musée du Louvre.