The Louvre preempts a masterpiece by Claude Beissonat

: 1. Claude Beissonat (active in Naples and Spain in the last quarter of the 17th century)
Immaculate Conception (detail)
Ivory - 55 cm
Paris, Musée du Louvre
Photo: Luc Pâris; See the image in its page

5/4/24 - Acquisition - Paris, Musée du Louvre - Discovered in autumn 2023 in Paris during its first exhibition at Alexandre Lacroix and Élodie Jeannest de Gyvès, this Immaculate Conception (ill. 1 to 4) immediately established itself as the most beautiful ivory sculpture of the year on the French market, but its sale was only scheduled for the end of March 2024 under the hammer of the De Baecque et Associés auction house at the Hôtel Drouot. Modestly estimated at between €30 and €50,000, this masterpiece fetched €170,000 hammer price, or €215,915 including costs, and was immediately preempted for the Louvre Museum’s Objets d’Art department. In truth, we could think of no better destination for this object, which could have found its place in any major private or public collection and which we are already looking forward to seeing again in the Louvre’s display cases [1]

: 2. Claude Beissonat (active in Naples and Spain in the last quarter of the 17th century)
Immaculate Conception
Ivory - 55 cm
Paris, Musée du Louvre
Photo: Luc Pâris; See the image in its page

: 3. Claude Beissonat (active in Naples and Spain in the last quarter of the 17th century)
Immaculate Conception
Ivory - 55 cm
Paris, Musée du Louvre
Photo: Luc Pâris; See the image in its page

Perched on a hexagonal base that has probably been added, veneered with ebony and fragments of horn painted in imitation of tortoiseshell, this beautiful Immaculate Conception stands out for its monumentality but above all for its virtuosity: From the drapery of the Virgin Mary’s cloak to the twirling angels, the object dazzles with its grace and lightness, the lightness of its execution being ideally suited to the subject represented, since this type of image…

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