This year, Musée Bonnat-Helleu in Bayonne, France, is publishing a collection catalogue of its Dutch and German drawings and prints. In this feature author David Mandrella gives an introduction to the collection, its origin and the collector to which the museum owes its name, Léon Bonnat.

“Léon Bonnat (1833–1922) is one of the great French academic portraitists of the late nineteenth century and his importance as a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris – and later as its director – was enormous. An old photograph shows him in his Parisian atelier, where he lived surrounded by his collection.  He spent much of his substantial income as a high society portraitist on drawings. His demands were simple: he wanted only the best drawings by the greatest artists since the Trecento.” Read on …

CODARTfeatures

Every month this new section of our website will offer one new in-depth article about Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide. It is the successor of the CODART eZine, which launched in 2012 and appeared bi-annually. The format of CODARTfeatures enables a higher frequency of publication and more flexibility in choice of subject matter.

In terms of subject matter the features will continue the course of the eZine and provide information on new curatorial developments, current projects, collections of Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide, as well as insight into the work of the museum curator.  To go to the features, click here.