The collection of Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934), comprised of over 40,000 drawing and print masterpieces, manuscripts and rare books, is one of the largest collections of its kind ever assembled by a private collector. When on December 28, 1935 the heirs of Edmond de Rothschild decided to donate the celebrated collection to the Louvre, it led to the creation of a specialized section in the department.
This book retraces the history of the Baron Edmond de Rothschild collection at the Musée du Louvre, which includes major works by Finiguerra, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Mantegna, Robetta, Bosch, Dürer, van Dyck, Seghers, Rembrandt and David, to name but a few. Since 1935, these masterpieces - some described here for the first time - have remained one of the most beautiful and lesser-known treasures of the Musée du Louvre art collections.