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A major institution in the département of Haute-Loire, the Musée Crozatier radiates forth from Le Puy-en-Velay. Established in 1820, the museum’s ambition is to bring together art and science collections for the education of all. It is an encyclopedic museum with collections of archaeology, objets d’arts, fine arts, natural sciences, mechanics, and local arts.

The painting collection was assembled from the very inception of the museum thanks to the actions of curator François Gabriel de Becdelièvre, a painter and historian with a pronounced taste for Dutch and Flemish artists. By means of purchase and donation, he brought into the collection the Still Life with Lemon by Willem Kalf, the Family Portrait now attributed to Herman van der Mast, and the large-format painting The Larder by Frans Snijders. Today the collection numbers more than sixty paintings on panel and canvas, including works by Michiel van Mierevelt, Hendrick van Vliet, and Peter Franchoys. The most important are displayed in the Galerie des Beaux-Arts. The museum also holds a number of prints after Rembrandt and Lucas van Leyden.

Emmanuel Magne, Curatorial Attaché (March 2025)