Pahin de la Blancherie's Commercial Cabinet of Curiosity (1779-87)

Abstract

Although Pahin de la Blancherie's Salon de la Correspondance has attracted the attention of historians and art historians alike, its character as a commercial cabinet of curiosity has never been explored. Looking at the hostility that La Blancherie engendered among the arts authorities of his time, I suggest not only that his art exhibitions encroached on territory jealously guarded by France's Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, but also that his penchant for displaying oddities along with his incessant wheeling and dealing jeopardized the Academy's ennobled vision of the fine arts. While the Academy waged a battle to assert the liberal arts status of painting and to distinguish works of art from crafts and curios, La Blancherie exhibited paintings and sculptures along with two-headed calves, anatomical models, and the latest fashions in combination locks. In another contrast, the Academy preserved its class status by barring members from engaging in commerce, whereas La Blancherie sold his wares openly and promoted himself in the unmistakable tones of a huckster. Finally, as the arts administration planned to establish a permanent exhibition of Old Master paintings in the renovated halls of the Louvre Palace, La Blancherie mounted his own show of French masters, which he embellished with characteristic self-promotional flair. For the Academy's defenders, this ambitious exhibition was the last straw.