This little piece of hill does not exist. And never existed. Not even in the time of Jean-Baptiste Claudot who simply gave birth to it with his brush at the end of the 18th century. Just as were born from his imagination the four characters installed on this small piece of land in the foreground of his canvas.
Discovered in 1992
On the other hand, the landscape below did indeed exist. Whether it’s the Château de Malzéville, in its neoclassical architecture of absolute sobriety, or the huge French-style garden which then unfolds towards the vanishing line, and further still the various buildings that make up… a view of Nancy .
“The painting being dated around 1780, i.e. after the death of Stanislas, we can recognize a certain number of recently built buildings”, notes Pierre-Hippolyte Pénet, curator of the Lorraine Museum. “Including the Government Palace, the Hemicycle, the Place de la Carrière, the triumphal arch, the towers of the cathedral, the Sainte-Catherine gate…”
Château de Malzéville in the foreground, view of Nancy in the second, all done by a landscape painter precisely known for having made a specialty of freezing Nancy and its surroundings on his canvases… it was enough to attract attention of the Lorraine Museum, and more precisely of the Lorraine Historical Society and the Lorraine Museum which, since 1848, has abounded most of its collections.
Its curators, moreover, had been waiting for a while for the opportunity to get their hands on this painting, the existence of which had been revealed by Mrs. Bresson in 1992, a member of the learned society who had discovered a snapshot taken from a private home.
However, the work was listed last year in the catalog for a public sale, which sounded the alarm to the museum team and members of society. Claudot is an artist closely followed by the museum, which already has around twenty. “And for good reason, since the SHLML is precisely intended to bring together documents retracing the history of Nancy”, specifies Charles d’Arenberg, president of the company.
On view this fall
It is assumed, without certainty, that this landscape inscribed in a perfect oval was originally intended to decorate a door top, probably commissioned by the Count of Hoffelize, owner of the castle. On the other hand, we know that there is a “pendant”, in other words a sister painting, quite similar. “It now belongs to a private collector, but we will have the chance to exhibit it at the same time as ours, next fall”, specifies Pierre-Hippolyte Pénet. “The exhibition is scheduled with the Museum of Fine Arts for the 40th anniversary of the Unesco classification of Place Stanislas, Place de la Carrière and Place d’Alliance. »
And when the Lorrain Museum (already closed for five years and for at least another six years!) reconnects with its public, this new Claudot should find its rightful place within its walls… finally restored!
A very special status
The acquisition of the painting will have cost some €5,000 to the Société d’histoire de la Lorraine et du Musée lorrain (SHLML), which is now the owner. As it is the owner of “more than 90% of the collections of the Lorraine Museum”, recalls Charles d’Arenberg, recently at the head of the SHLML. It constitutes this collection since its creation in 1848, installed since 1852 in the ducal palace, where the museum was established.
The walls themselves belong to the City. But this is not the only municipal contribution. Since the 1960s, a period when “the operating expenses of a museum exceeded our means”, in the words of President D’Arenberg, the municipality has in fact taken over in this area. This includes the emoluments of the three specific curators.
“We are walking hand in hand”, sums up Nicole Creusot, heritage assistant. “Through a five-year agreement implemented since 2008, and the awarding of the Musée de France label to the Lorraine Museum. »
The Société d’histoire de la Lorraine nonetheless holds the very large share of the collections. Better: a few legacies have enabled it to operate since new acquisitions, such as that of Pierre and Berthe Simonin who made the SHLML their heiress in 2010. It is therefore in part to them that the merit of this acquisition of Claudot that the team was waiting for.
L.G.
