The Museum's Most Recent Acquisitions
The rôle of the museum consists of conserving, studying and displaying to advantage the works of art with which they have been entrusted. However, it is also the museum's duty to enrich the heritage in their charge, and thus enlarge the current field of knowledge on an artist, an artistic movement or an era.
The Musée des Augustins is pleased to present two recent acquisitions in this exhibition. The Guerrier à l'antique, Hylas (?) by François Lucas (signed and dated 1777) is a terracotta which has arrived to complete the collection of his works most harmoniously. In fact, whilst the collection is large, it had not previously included any work of this type or quality.
The Buste de Chaptal by Philippe-Laurent Roland (signed and dated 1802) is significant, as much for the quality of the sculpture as the personality of the model. Chaptal was a great chemist (a one-time Professor at the University of Toulouse), an innovative industrialist and Bonaparte's Minister of the Interior. He was also the creator of a network of provincial museums through his decree of 1 September 1801, which sent some of the works seized in revolutionary campaigns to newly-created museums. The Museum of Toulouse gained forty three pictures in this way.
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