Étienne Moreau-Nélaton
Encyclopedia
Adolphe Étienne Auguste Moreau-Nélaton (2 December 1859, Paris- 25 April 1927, Paris) was a French
painter, art collector and art historian. His large collection is today held in its entirety by National French museums.
and Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
. Moreau-Nélaton's father, who was also named Adolphe Moureau (1827-82), was a high government official and led the railroad company Chemins de fer de l'Est
. In 1856 he married the ceramic artist Camille Nélaton (1840–97), with whom he further expanded the family's collection.
, Moreau-Nélaton decided to become a painter. He began his artistic education by studying with the artists Henri-Joseph Harpignies and Albert Maignan
, who were friends of the family. In 1885 he exhibited for the first time in the Salon de Paris. His painting style was influenced by Édouard Manet
and Berthe Morisot
. Domestic family scenes were his primary subject matter, but he also painted several landscapes. Some of his works are now in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay.
, Constant Troyon
, Théodore Géricault
, Thomas Couture
, Honoré Daumier
and Charles-François Daubigny
. Works by Henri Fantin-Latour
followed, including Hommage à Delacroix. Moreau-Nélaton also belonged to the group of subscribers who secured and purchased Manet's Olympia for the nation of France in 1890. His collection of impressionist
painting was especially impressive, with 10 works by Claude Monet
alone, including the well-known Poppyfield at Argenteuil. It also included 7 works by Alfred Sisley
, 2 works by Camille Pissarro
, and 5 works by Édouard Manet, including The Luncheon on the Grass
.
Other painters represented in the collection included Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, Johan Barthold Jongkind, Jean-Louis Forain
and Eugène Carrière
. Most of the paintings were donated to the Louvre
in 1906, and today are displayed either there or in the Musée d’Orsay. Further sections of it were willed to state museums after his death. Among these were sculptures by Alfred Charles Lenoir, Aristide Maillol
and Aimé Jules Dalou. In addition to all of this he also willed over 3,000 drawings and prints by various artists to the Louvre.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
painter, art collector and art historian. His large collection is today held in its entirety by National French museums.
Family
Moreau-Nélaton's family's art collecting began with his grandfather Adolphe Moreau (1800-59). As a stockbroker he possessed ample capital with which to buy the work of artists with whom he was personally acquainted, including Eugène DelacroixEugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...
and Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
]Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps was a French painter.He was born in Paris. In his youth he travelled in the East, and reproduced Oriental life and scenery with a bold fidelity to nature that puzzled conventional critics...
. Moreau-Nélaton's father, who was also named Adolphe Moureau (1827-82), was a high government official and led the railroad company Chemins de fer de l'Est
Chemins de fer de l'Est
The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est , often referred to simply as the Est company, was an early French railway company. The company was formed in 1853 by fusion from Compagnie de Paris à Strasbourg, operating the Paris-Strasbourg line, and Compagnie du chemin de fer de Montereau à Troyes...
. In 1856 he married the ceramic artist Camille Nélaton (1840–97), with whom he further expanded the family's collection.
As artist
After an 1882 visit to the École Normale SupérieureÉcole Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
, Moreau-Nélaton decided to become a painter. He began his artistic education by studying with the artists Henri-Joseph Harpignies and Albert Maignan
Albert Maignan
Albert Pierre René Maignan was a French painter and historical illustrator. Most of his work was devoted to historical subjects, but he also painted portraits....
, who were friends of the family. In 1885 he exhibited for the first time in the Salon de Paris. His painting style was influenced by Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....
and Berthe Morisot
Berthe Morisot
Berthe Morisot was a painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. She was described by Gustave Geffroy in 1894 as one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt.In 1864, she exhibited for the first...
. Domestic family scenes were his primary subject matter, but he also painted several landscapes. Some of his works are now in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay.
Collector and patron
Despite his artistic output, Moreau-Nélaton was perhaps more important as a collector and patron. He first expanded his family's collection to include paintings by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Narcisse Virgilio Díaz de la PeñaNarcisse Virgilio Díaz
Narcisse Virgilio Díaz de la Peña was a French painter of the Barbizon school.Diaz was born in Bordeaux to Spanish parents. At the age of ten, Diaz became an orphan, and misfortune dogged his early years. His foot was bitten by a reptile in Meudon wood, near Sèvres, where he had been taken to live...
, Constant Troyon
Constant Troyon
Constant Troyon , French painter, was born in Sèvres, near Paris, where his father was connected with the famous manufactory of porcelain....
, Théodore Géricault
Théodore Géricault
Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault was a profoundly influential French artist, painter and lithographer, known for The Raft of the Medusa and other paintings...
, Thomas Couture
Thomas Couture
Thomas Couture was an influential French history painter and teacher. Couture taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Karel Javůrek, and J-N Sylvestre.-Life:He was born at Senlis, Oise, France...
, Honoré Daumier
Honoré Daumier
Honoré Daumier was a French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor, whose many works offer commentary on social and political life in France in the 19th century....
and Charles-François Daubigny
Charles-François Daubigny
Charles-François Daubigny was one of the painters of the Barbizon school, and is considered an important precursor of Impressionism....
. Works by Henri Fantin-Latour
Henri Fantin-Latour
Henri Fantin-Latour was a French painter and lithographer best known for his flower paintings and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers.-Biography:...
followed, including Hommage à Delacroix. Moreau-Nélaton also belonged to the group of subscribers who secured and purchased Manet's Olympia for the nation of France in 1890. His collection of impressionist
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
painting was especially impressive, with 10 works by Claude Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
alone, including the well-known Poppyfield at Argenteuil. It also included 7 works by Alfred Sisley
Alfred Sisley
Alfred Sisley was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life, in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedication to painting landscape en plein air...
, 2 works by Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
, and 5 works by Édouard Manet, including The Luncheon on the Grass
The Luncheon on the Grass
Le déjeuner sur l'herbe – originally titled Le Bain – is a large oil on canvas painting by Édouard Manet created in 1862 and 1863. The painting depicts the juxtaposition of a female nude and a scantily dressed female bather on a picnic with two fully dressed men in a rural setting...
.
Other painters represented in the collection included Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes was a French painter, who became the president and co-founder of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and whose work influenced many other artists.-Life:...
, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, Johan Barthold Jongkind, Jean-Louis Forain
Jean-Louis Forain
Jean-Louis Forain was a French Impressionist painter, lithographer, watercolorist and etcher.-Overview:Forain was born in Reims, Marne but at age eight, his family moved to Paris. He began his career working as a caricaturist for several Paris journals including Le Monde Parisien and Le rire...
and Eugène Carrière
Eugène Carrière
Eugène Anatole Carrière was a French Symbolist artist of the Fin de siècle period. His work is best known for its brown monochrome palette. He was a close friend of the sculptor Rodin and his work influenced Picasso...
. Most of the paintings were donated to the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in 1906, and today are displayed either there or in the Musée d’Orsay. Further sections of it were willed to state museums after his death. Among these were sculptures by Alfred Charles Lenoir, Aristide Maillol
Aristide Maillol
Aristide Maillol or Aristides Maillol was a French Catalan sculptor and painter.-Biography:...
and Aimé Jules Dalou. In addition to all of this he also willed over 3,000 drawings and prints by various artists to the Louvre.