Paul Friedrich Arthur von Franquet (* 1854 in Braunschweig; † 1931 ibid.) was a German manufacturer, art collector and patron of the arts.
Life
editFranquet had become wealthy as the great-nephew[1] of the Brunswick entrepreneur and manufacturer Carl Friedrich Franquet, owner of the chicory factory Ludwig Otto Bleibtreu. He had two brothers, Eugen (1858-1925), a writer in Berlin, and Guido.[2] Franquet invested part of his fortune in an extensive art collection, which included paintings that are world-famous today.
Art collector and patron of Edvard Munch
edit
Franquet had already inherited a considerable collection of art objects and antiques from the estates of his relatives, the founder of the chicory factory Ludwig Otto Bleibtreu and his foster son and successor Carl Friedrich Franquet.
Arthur and Eugen von Franquet were among the first German collectors of works by the Norwegian Edvard Munch.[3] Arthur already had a number of early prints by Munch before 1895 and was friends with him. The two corresponded for years and Munch visited Franquet several times in Brunswick.[4]
Arthur von Franquet's collection included a pastel version of Munch's The Scream[1], which he probably commissioned himself in 1895, as well as the Munch painting Girl at the Window from 1893, which is now in the Art Institute of Chicago[2].
Franquet sold The Scream in 1926 to the Jewish banker and art collector Hugo Simon[5], who fled Germany in 1933 to escape the National Socialists, causing his collection to be dispersed. The further provenance of the work until 2012 is considered controversial.[2] Franquet's pastel version from 1895 was auctioned at Sotheby's in New York on 2 May 2012 for the record sum of 119,922,500 US dollars and was considered the most expensive painting ever bought at auction.[3] The buyer of the work was the businessman Leon Black.[4]
Legacy
editAfter Arthur von Franquet's death in 1931, the estate went to his nephew, the language teacher Herbert von Franquet. Parts of the extensive art and antiques collections were sold or auctioned off[1].
The former residential and commercial building of the Bleibtreu and (von) Franquet families at Steinweg 4, where Arthur von Franquet had lived in seclusion until his death, was still owned by his nephew living in Munich in 1936.[1] It was completely destroyed in the Second World War.
Literature
edit- F. J. Christiani: Karl Friedrich Franquet. Hoffabrikant in Braunschweig (1783–1851). In: Miszellen. 34, Städtisches Museum Braunschweig, 1982, ISSN 0934-6201.
- Wilhelm Schrader: Braunschweiger Familienchronik. Die Familien Bleibtreu und Franquet. In: Braunschweigische Landeszeitung Nr. 117 vom 29. April 1934.
- Gerd Presler: Der kluge Sammler Arthur von Franquet. In: Gerd Presler: Edvard Munch. Der Schrei – Ende eines Irrtums. Karlsruhe/Weingarten 2015; S. 42ff. ISBN 978-3-96028-009-5
References
edit- ^ F. J. Christiani: Karl Friedrich Franquet. Hoffabrikant in Braunschweig (1783–1851).
- ^ Leopold Reidemeister: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Das graphische Werk zum 90. Geburtstag des Künstlers. Ausstellung vom 7. September bis 8. Dezember 1974, Berlin, Brücke-Museum, p. 8
- ^ Hans Dieter Huber: Edvard Munch – Materiality, Metabolism and Money. rough and ready 12, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-8442-8890-2.
- ^ "Les Marques de collections de Dessins & d'Estampes". www.marquesdecollections.fr. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
- ^ "(#20) Edvard Munch". Sothebys.com. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
Provenance Arthur von Franquet, Braunschweig (acquired in 1895) Hugo Simon, Berlin and Paris (acquired by 1926) Kunsthandel J. Goudstikker NV., Amsterdam (on consignment for sale from Hugo Simon, by October, 1933) Kunsthaus Zürich (on deposit from Hugo Simon, by December, 1936) M. Molvidson, Konst- & Antikvitetshandel, Stockholm (on consignment for sale from Hugo Simon, January, 1937) Thomas Olsen, Oslo (acquired from the above circa 1937) Thence by descent
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[[Category:Art collectors]] [[Category:Patrons of the visual arts]] [[Category:Men]] [[Category:1931 deaths]] [[Category:1854 births]] [[Category:German people]] [[Category:20th-century businesspeople]] [[Category:19th-century businesspeople]]