Théophile Thoré

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Etienne-Joseph-Théophile Thoré, photographed by Nadar

Etienne-Joseph-Théophile Thoré (born June 23, 1807 in La Flèche , † April 30, 1869 in Paris ), also known under the names William Bürger , Thoré-Bürger and Bürger-Thoré , was a French art historian . He also collected art and worked as a critic at the Paris Salon . His rediscovery of Jan Vermeer's was particularly significant .

Life

Théophile Thoré began working as an art critic in the early 1830s, and in the 1840s his reviews covered a wide range of aesthetic and political aspects. He criticized conservative artists such as Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres , Paul Delaroche and Horace Vernet and praised the works of Eugène Delacroix , Théodore Rousseau and other representatives of the Barbizon school . Together with Paul Lacroix , Thoré founded the Alliance des Arts in 1842 to promote and sell art. They also issued a newsletter. From 1844 to 1848 Théophile Thoré worked for the newspaper Le Constitutionnel . He was a supporter of the ideas of Henri de Saint-Simon and had to go into exile in the course of the February Revolution in 1848 . He lived first in London , then in Brussels and in Switzerland until he was able to return to France in 1859.

From 1855, he used the pseudonym Willem citizen when he began to focus his work on northern European art. He sifted through a lot of archive material. The rediscovery of Jan Vermeer is attributed to him. In addition, he also contributed to the knowledge of other Dutch artists of the 17th century such as Frans Hals . He also published museum catalogs and writings on the English and Spanish schools. Thoré criticized French baroque art as being too influenced by Italian art. He was of the opinion that it did not represent national identity. Instead, he praised the naturalism of 17th century Dutch art and supported representatives of realism such as Gustave Courbet , Jean-François Millet, and the impressionists Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir . He was also one of the first to recognize the importance of Édouard Manet in the Salon of 1868. In the 1860s, Théophile Thoré acquired the Vermeer paintings Standing Virginal Player , Young Lady with a Pearl Necklace and Seated Virginal Player . In 1863, after the death of Nicolaus Hudtwalcker, he acquired the painting of a sleeping cook, which he and Hudtwalcker took to be a Vermeer, but which is no longer included in Vermeer 's work today. With his collection in 1892 in were Hôtel Drouot these pictures sold in several major museums and collections.

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personal data
SURNAME Thoré, Théophile
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thoré, Etienne-Joseph-Théophile; Citizen, William; Thoré Citizen, William; Citizen Thoré, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French art historian and rediscoverer Vermeer's
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH La Flèche
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1869
Place of death Paris