Information
As the Fine Arts Museum of the City of Paris, the Petit Palais holds collections with an encyclopedic scope. From Jan Sanders van Hemessen to the eighteenth century, and thanks to donations from numerous collectors, Northern European art occupies a prominent place in the museum, located at the edge of the Champs-Élysées.
Among its key benefactors, the Dutuit brothers stand out for their interest in showcasing the range of media used by individual artists. They bequeathed to the Petit Palais an exceptional collection of around 4,000 Dutch and Flemish prints, along with numerous drawings and paintings. Rembrandt, represented through a painted self-portrait, drawings, and an almost complete set of his printed works, exemplifies their collecting approach.
In addition to major figures such as Jacob Jordaens, Peter Paul Rubens, and Jacob van Ruisdael, the museum also preserves a rich variety of works by lesser-known artists, many of whom remain to be studied. The collection of Dutch and Flemish drawings was catalogued by Frits Lugt in 1927.
Maïté Metz, Curator in charge of Old Master Paintings; Baptiste Roelly, Curator in charge of Old Master Prints, Drawings, Rares Books and Manuscripts (May 2025)
Collection catalogues
Les dessins des Écoles du Nord de la collection Dutuit au Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris (Petit-Palais)
Lugt, Frits
Paris 1927
Related CODART publications
Maïté Metz, “The Flemish and Dutch Collections of the Petit Palais”, CODARTfeatures, July 2025.