Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel's studio

Lot of over 1000 glass plates,
negatives and stereoscopic views

A sale of Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel's studio enabled the museum to acquire archives, including a box containing over 1,000 photos (glass plates, negatives and stereoscopic views), an unprecedented documentary source on the studio practices of Maurice (the father) and Bernard (the son) Boutet de Monvel, as well as a contribution to our knowledge of the history of the works. As early as the 1880s, the museum acquired works by Maurice Boutet de Monvel from Orléans, through purchases or donations. But it was above all with the major purchase, in 1980, of Triomphe de la canaille (1885) and then, in 2016, of Jeanne d'Arc entendant les voix, that Boutet de Monvel took its rightful place in the collections, with two of his most striking paintings.

Palettes, brushes and watercolor boxes

The Orleans MBA was also able to acquire the artist's palettes, watercolor boxes and brushes, as well as a staircase used by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel, then taken over by his son Bernard. A photo documents this staircase in Louis-Maurice's practice, as he climbed it to paint Joan of Arc Hearing the Voices, originally commissioned for the Basilica of Domrémy and now in the Orleans MBA.