NOMA’s exhibition of The Orléans Collection reunites paintings that once belonged to Philippe II, the Duke of Orléans. These works have been separated for over 225 years, ever since Philippe II’s great-grandson, Philippe Égalité, sold them during the French Revolution. The Orléans collection was later divided between two art dealers. Thomas More Slade, backed by a consortium of British bankers, managed the sales of the Dutch and Flemish works in 1793 and 1795. Michael Bryan sold the Italian, French, and Spanish paintings in 1798 with the help of a syndicate of British noblemen.

Bryan staged the paintings in two locations in London: his gallery in Schomberg House on Pall Mall and the Lyceum Theatre on the Strand. The twin exhibitions of Italian and French pictures opened to the public on Boxing Day—December 26, 1798—and remained on view for over six months.

Artists were permitted free entrance to Bryan’s exhibition spaces for an hour each day. There, they had the opportunity to view masterpieces by Titian, Veronese, Raphael, Poussin, and others. Painter Joseph Farington, a member of the British Royal Academy of Arts, sketched the installations at the Pall Mall and Lyceum on the inside cover of Bryan’s exhibition catalogues, which are now preserved at the Getty Research Institute.

Farington’s sketches allow us to partially reconstruct the hanging of these works the last time that they were on view together. the reconstructions below were assembled by NOMA’s Digital Asset Manager, Sesthasak Boonchai, based on the research of provenance research specialist (and The Orléans Collection cataloguecontributor) Julia Amstrong-Totten. They are currently on view on interactive digital screens in the Reading Room of The Orléans Collection.

Diagram of the Orléans Collection display at Bryan’s picture gallery in the Pall Mall in 1798–1799

Highlighted works, from left to right, that are included in the NOMA exhibition:

• Paolo Veronese (Italian, 1528–1588), Supper at Emmaus, mid-1570s. Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 2571 Photographer: Studio Tromp, Rotterdam
• Valentin de Boulogne (French, 1591–1632), A Musical Party, ca. 1626. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation, AC1998.58.1 Photo © Museum Associates/ LACMA
• Domenichino (Italian, 1581–1641), The Way to Calvary, ca. 1610. Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 83.PC.373. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program

Diagram from the Orleans Collection picture display at the Lyceum in 1799:

Highlighted works, from left to right, that are included in the NOMA exhibition:

• Giulio Romano (Italian, ca. 1499–1546) and workshop, The Birth of Bacchus, ca. 1530s. Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 60.PB.7 Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.
• Lorenzo Lotto (Italian, ca. 1480–1556), The Virgin and Child with Saints Jerome, Peter, Francis, and an Unidentified Female Saint, ca. 1505. Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland. Purchased by private treaty with the aid of the National Heritage Memorial Fund 1984, NG 2418
• Guido Reni (Italian, 1575–1642), The Meeting of David and Abigail, ca. 1615–20. Norfolk, Virginia, Chrysler Museum of Art, Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 71.524

—Kelsey Brosnan, Curatorial Fellow for European Art

Learn more about the sale of The Orléans Collection at a symposium hosted by NOMA and the Frick Collection Center for the History of Collecting from January 11–12. Register for the symposium at this link.

Additional information about The Orléans Collection can be found in the exhibition catalogue, available for sale in the Museum Shop and online.