Calvet Museum
The Calvet Museum is the main museum in Avignon. Since the 1980s the collection has been split between two buildings, with the fine arts housed in an 18th-century hôtel particulier and a separate Lapidary Museum in the former chapel of the city's Jesuit college on rue de la République. It is one of the museums run by the Fondation Calvet.
Its collections also include goldwork, faience, porcelain, tapestries, ironwork and other examples of the decorative arts, along with archaeology and Asian, Oceanic and African ethnography.
History
The hôtel de Villeneuve-Martignan
The museum is housed in a building on the site of the Livrée de Cambrai, named after its last inhabitant, cardinal Pierre d'Ailly, bishop of Cambrai. In 1719, it was sold to François-René de Villeneuve, marquis d'Arzeliers and lord of Martignan, in the Principality of Orange.In 1734, de Villeneuve's son Jacques-Ignace de Villeneuve decided to extend the building to designs by, but later changed his mind and razed the whole building in 1741, replacing it with a completely new one to designs by Jean-Baptiste Franque. Work on this new construction was only completed in 1749, which was then bought in 1802 by the businessman Deleutre, who then rented it to the city authorities as a home for Esprit Calvet's collections. The authorities acquired it on 3 March 1833 to turn into a museum. The hôtel de Villeneuve-Martignan was made a monument historique on 1 October 1963.
Museum
A major collector and a physiocrat by training, Esprit Calvet devoted his life to medicine and arts. In 1810 his will left his library, natural history collection and cabinet of antiquities to his birthplace of Avignon, along with the necessary funds to make them accessible as an independent institution. Napoleon I issued a decree on 9 April 1811 from the palais des Tuileries allowing Avignon's mayor to accept the legacy for and in the name of the city of Avignon. The resulting museum was named after him and housed his collection.Collections
Paintings
French
16th and 17th centuries
- : The Holy Family ; The Adoration of the Shepherds ; The Resurrection ; Lament over the Dead Christ.
- Nicolas Mignard : Saint Michel Defeating the Rebel Angels ; Saint Bruno at Prayer ; Vice-Legate Frédéric Sforza ; The Virgin Mary Granting the Scapular to Saint Simon Stock ; Pietà ; Self-Portrait.
- : Laban Seeking His Idols ; The Archangel Gabriel Appearing to Zacharias.
- Pierre Dupuis : Still Life with Vegetables and Apricots.
- Pierre Mignard : Portrait of Henri de Forbin Maynier, baron d'Oppède ; Alexander Meets the Queen of the Amazons.
- Pierre II Mignard : Allegory of Spring ; Allegory of Summer ; Allegory of Autumn ; Allegory of Winter ; Apollo Flaying Marsyas ; Noli me tangere.
18th century
- Nicolas de Largillierre : Portrait of Pierre Parrocel.
- Jean Raoux : Young Woman Reading a Letter ; Silence, or Woman at a Window Drawing a Curtain.
- Pierre Parrocel : Resurrection.
- Étienne Parrocel : St John the Baptist Proclaiming the Messiah ; Saint Camille de Lellis Presented to the Holy Trinity.
- Jean Valade : Marie-Anne de Montboissier-Beaufort-Canillac, marquise de Beaumont ; Portrait of Joseph François Xavier de Seytres.
- Jacques de Lajoue : Seascape, Calm Weather.
- : Sovereignty ; Portrait of Esprit Calvet ; The City of Avignon Restored to the Holy See.
- Joseph Vernet : Entry into a Seaport in Calm Weather ; The Italian Gondola ; Fresh Morning, Pleasure Party ; Sailing Ship Wrecked on the Rocks ; A Shepherdess in the Alps ; Morning on Land, the Fish in the River ; Midday on Land, Gale ; Morning at Sea, Fog ; Sea, Sunrise, Port with a Temple.
- Joseph-Marie Vien : Jesus Presented in the Temple
- Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre : Beheading of St John the Baptist
- Louis-Michel van Loo : Portrait of Joseph Vernet.
- Hubert Robert : Spring ; The Fontaine de Vaucluse ; Landscape with Ruins and a Fountain ; Herd in front of the Colisseum and the Arch of Constantine in Rome.
- Jean-Baptiste Regnault : The Centaur Chiron Educating Achilles.
- Pierre Peyron : Curius Dentatus Refusing Gifts from the Samnite Ambassadors.
- Jacques-Louis David : The Death of Joseph Bara.
- Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun : Portrait of Giuseppina Grassini.
19th century
- Horace Vernet : Joseph Vernet Tied to a Mast During a Storm, oil on canvas, 1822 ; Mazepa and the Wolves, oil on canvas, 1826
- Jean-Joseph Lacroix : The Legend of Christ of the Black Penitents.
- Jean-Antoine Constantin : View of the Fontaine de Vaucluse.
- François Marius Granet : Jacques de Molay Received into the Templars.
- Claude Marie Paul Dubufe : Apollo and Cyparissa.
- Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot : Site in Italy.
- Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld : Francis I at the Fontaine de Vaucluse.
- Eugène Devéria : Portrait of Calvet.
- Auguste-Barthélemy Glaize : Luca Signorelli Preparing to Paint His Son, Killed in a Duel at Cortona.
- D'après Antoine-Jean Gros : The Battle of Nazareth.
- Isidore Dagnan : View of Avignon and the pont Saint-Bénézet.
- : Caravaggio in His Studio.
- Pierre Révoil : Charles-Quint at the abbaye de Saint-Just.
- Paul Huet : General view of Avignon and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon from inside the fort Saint-André ; View of Avignon from the North Side.
- Théodore Chassériau : Sleeping Bather.
- Alfred Sisley : The Church at Moret.
- Armand Guillaumin : The Pointe de la Baumette.
- Paul Guigou : Selfportrait, or Man with a Pipe.
- Pierre Grivolas : Flagellants in the 14th Century ; The Market in place Pie.
- Victor Leydet : Before Mass ; Portrait of a Standing Young Man.
- : The Prodigal Son Guarding Pigs.
- Clément Brun : Street in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon.
- : Burial of Saint Sebastian, 1827.
20th century
- Émile Bernard : Portrait of Paul Léautaud.
- Pierre Bonnard : Winter Day.
- Chaïm Soutine : The Idiot; Bad Luck; The Stripe; View of a Village, Céret in Roussillon
- Bernard Buffet : Holy Face.
- Auguste Chabaud : Big Blue Bathing Woman ; Les Arènes.
- Maurice Denis : Motherhood in White.
- George Desvallières : Portrait of Madame Emile Desvallières.
- Albert Gleizes : Motherhood; Riverbank.
- Alfred Lesbros : Street in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon ; Footing.
- : Portrait of Jules Belleudy in his Office.
- René Seyssaud : River in Autumn.
- Ibrahim Shahda : Woman in Black.
- : Portrait of Joseph Rignault Aged Twenty.
- Louis-Mathieu Verdilhan : View of the Vieux-Port in Marseille.
- Maurice de Vlaminck : On Zinc.
- Joe Downing : Painting.
Italian
16th and 17th centuries
- Filippo Abbiati : The Virgin Mary Appearing to the Bishops at the Council of Ephesus, sketch for a large painting for santa Maria del Carmine church in Milan.
- Paolo Biancucci : The Virgin Mary Presenting the Rosary to Saint Dominic, with Saints Catherine of Sienna, Antony of Padua and Francis of Assisi Adoring the Christ Child.
- Vincenzo Campi : Peasants' Meal
- Angelo Caroselli : Young Man with a Skull, Vanitas.
- : The Painter's Easel
- Luca Giordano : The Death of Lucretia.
- Rutilio Manetti ; Saint Jerome Supported by Angels.
- Giovanni Maria Morandi : Portrait of cardinal Marcello Durazzo.
- Pietro Negri : Nero and Agrippina.
- Salvator Rosa : Landscape with Two Figures.
- Giorgio Vasari : Abraham Meets Melchizedec.
- Pietro della Vecchia : Christ and the Woman Caught in Adultery.
18th century
- Faustino Bocchi : Dwarf Playing the Violin.
- Domenico Brandi : A Deer Pursued by Dogs.
- : Saint Peter Freed from Prison by an Angel.
- Giovanni Paolo Panini : The Vow of Marcus Curtius , Belisarius Begging for Alms.
- Francesco Zuccarelli : Landscape with Peasants.
Spanish
- Luis de Morales : Ecce Homo.
Northern Europe
- Johann Koerbecke : Resurrection, 1457, a rare panel from a broken-up retable originally in Marienfeld Abbey.
- Germany : Crucified Martyrs ; Martyrs Whipped and Wearing Crowns of Thorns.
- Jan Frans van Bloemen : Landscape with Bathers ; Landscape with Goatherds.
- Pieter Bout : Busy River Landscape.
- Salomon de Bray : Saint Peter Delivered from Prison.
- Joos van Craesbeeck : The Smoker and Death.
- After Albrecht Dürer : Christ Bearing the Cross.
- Cornelis Dusart : Seated Pipe-Smoker.
- After Jan Brueghel the Elder : Procession at a Peasant Wedding.
- Pieter Brueghel the Younger : Village Festival or Kermesse with a Play and a Procession
- Pieter Brueghel the Younger, The Parable of the Misers.
- Attributed to Jacob van Oost the Elder : Portrait of a Young Man.
- Attributed to Lucas Franchoys the Younger : Portrait of a Churchman.
- Pieter Hardimé : Flower Bouquet in a Vase on a Stone Ledge.
- Gerard Hoet : Armida Preparing to Pursue Rinaldo.
- Abraham Hondius : Dogs Attacking a Heron.
- Gérard de Lairesse : Jaël and Sisera.
- Anthonie de Lorme and Anthonie Palamedesz. : Protestant Church Interior with Figures.
- Jan Miel : Shepherds and Their Flock in a Mountainous Landscape
- Jan Miense Molenaer : The Foot Operation.
- Michiel van Musscher : A Lute Lesson Interrupted.
- Eglon van der Neer : Portrait of a Man in Louis XIV Costume.
- Aernout van der Neer : View of a Village by Moonlight.
- Cornelis van Poelenburgh : Landscape with Mercury Sending Argus to Sleep with his Flute.
- Chistiaan van Pol ; Study of a Lilac Branch ; Study of a Variegated Rose Stalk.
- Hendrik van Steenwijk II : Church Interior with Figures, oil on copper
- Dominicus van Tol : Monk Reading with a Pen in his Hand.
- Jan van de Venne : Two Fantasy Heads, Profile.
- Jan Peeter Verdussen : The Blacksmith's Home.
- Jan Weenix : Child and Dog at a Window, Trompe-l’œil.
- Matthijs Wulfraet : Two Smokers.