Poussin, Watteau, Fragonard, David

French Drawings from French Private Collections

Musée de Picardie

From 27 June to 27 September 2026
2 Rue Puvis de Chavannes, 80000 Amiens
amiens.fr

This summer, the Musée de Picardie unveils an exceptional event: an exhibition of more than 170 major French drawings, all drawn from private collections.

A rare opportunity for the public to discover a true panorama of French art, from the end of the Renaissance to the Revolution, through works that are as precious as they are rarely exhibited.

An Unprecedented Gathering of Great Masters

The exhibition will highlight a constellation of essential artists: Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain, Simon Vouet, Eustache Le Sueur, Laurent de La Hyre, Charles Le Brun, Antoine Watteau, François Boucher, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Hubert Robert, Jacques-Louis David, and many others.

Most of these sheets are previously unpublished and invite visitors to enter the intimacy of artistic creation through a great diversity of works—sketches, studies, compositions, finished drawings—styles—Mannerism, Classicism, Rococo, Neoclassicism—genres—history painting, allegory, landscape, portrait—and techniques—pen and ink, wash, red chalk, black chalk, white chalk, charcoal, and more.

Following in the footsteps of landmark exhibitions devoted to drawings from private collections held in Caen (“Italian Renaissance Drawings in French Private Collections,” 2011) and Rennes (“Italian Baroque Drawings in French Private Collections,” 2015), this new exhibition marks a major milestone in the study of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French graphic arts.

A scholarly catalogue will accompany the event, offering an unprecedented synthesis of this crucial period, which saw the emergence of some of France’s greatest artists and draftsmen.

Antoine Watteau, Un homme debout, tourné vers la gauche, portant une cape et un béret, craie noire, sanguine, rehauts de craie blanche sur papier brun, 283 x 179 mm, collection particulière © D.R.

Antoine Watteau
A Standing Man, Turned to the Left,
Wearing a Cape and a Beret
Black chalk, red chalk, heightened with white chalk on brown paper, 283 × 179 mm
Private collection © D.R.

François Lemoyne, Etude de femme pour Pandore, vers 1732-1736, pierre noire, craie et sanguine sur papier, 253 x 255 mm, collection particulière © D.R.

François Lemoyne
Study of a Woman for Pandora
c. 1732–1736
Black chalk, white chalk and red chalk on paper, 253 × 255 mm
Private collection © D.R.

Pieter Boel, Un perroquet vu de dos avec des études de becs, craie noire, sanguine, rehauts de craie blanche sur papier, 271 x 218 mm, collection particulière © D.R.

Pieter Boel
A Parrot Seen from the Back with Studies of Beaks
Black chalk, red chalk, heightened with white chalk on paper, 271 × 218 mm
Private collection © D.R.

A Treasure from the Amiens Collections Revealed

Although the Musée de Picardie doesn’t hold one of the largest graphic art collections in France, it nevertheless preserves remarkable treasures.

The exhibition will notably provide an opportunity to discover or rediscover a jewel kept in its reserves: the exceptional Self-Portrait with Lace Jabot (c. 1750) by Maurice Quentin de La Tour, regarded as one of the most remarkable self-portraits in the history of art.

It will be presented for the occasion in one of the cabinets of the permanent collection and accompanied by around twenty outstanding drawings from the Amiens holdings.

Claude Gellé dit Claude Lorrain, Vue panoramique de la campagne romaine, des montagnes au fond, pinceau et lavis brun sur papier brun clair, 162 x 268 mm, collection particulière © D.R.

Claude Gellé known as Claude Lorrain
Panoramic View of the Roman Countryside, with Mountains in the Background
Brush and brown wash on light brown paper, 162 × 268 mm
Private collection © D.R.

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