Paintings and sculptures, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

Collection of English paintings from the 18th to the 19th century, Italian canvases from the 18th century, and French paintings and sculptures from the 19th century. Works by Francesco Guardi (Assumption Feast in Saint Mark’s Square, Regatta on the Grand Canal), Thomas Gainsborough (Mrs. Lowndes-Stone’s Retato), Jean-Honoré Fragonard (The Island of Love), Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (The bridge of Mantes, Ville d’Avray), Joseph Turner (Quillebeuf, mouth of the Seine), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Portrait of Madame Monet), François Boucher, Édouard Manet (Soap bubbles, The young man with the cherries), Edgar Degas (Self-portrait (Degas-Saluant), Portrait of Henri Michel-Lévy), Claude Monet (Still life, The thaw) and Henri Fantin-Latour ((Still life or table Garnier). there are also sculptures by Carpeaux, Barye, Dalou and Rodin.

Painting
The main centres of artistic production from the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are represented by the work of such artists as Lochner, Van der Weyden, Bouts, Ghirlandaio, Moroni, Frans Hals, Ruisdael, Rubens and Rembrandt. Eighteenth-century French painting is in turn represented by the work of Largillière, Boucher, Hubert Robert, Fragonard, Lépicié, Nattier and Quentin de La Tour.The eighteenth century is also represented by an area devoted to the work of the Venetian painter Francesco Guardi, while another area brings together English painters such as Lawrence and Gainsborough. Nineteenth-century English painting is in turn represented by the work of Turner and Burne-Jones.The section of nineteenth-century French painting includes work by Corot, Millet, Rousseau and Fantin-Latour, as well as that of Manet, Dégas, Renoir and Monet

Sculpture
The section of European sculpture includes pieces from the Middle Ages until the nineteenth century. The delicate image of the Virgin and Child, attributed to Jean de Liège, who worked for the French king Charles V, dates from the Middle Ages, while the works attributed to Antonio Rosselino and Andrea della Robbia stand out among the Renaissance collection. The same period is also represented by a significant collection of medals that includes a substantial nucleus of work by Pisanello. Eighteenth-century French sculpture includes work by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Pigalle, Caffieri and Houdon, the artist who producedDiana.The nineteenth-century’s artistic vision of sculpture is emphasised in the Gulbenkian Collection by the inclusion of work by Carpeaux, Barye, Dalou and Rodin.

The xviii th century was also honored in the space specially dedicated to the great Venetian painter Francesco Guardi, with 19 paintings of views (vedute) and “whims” that mix real and imaginary architectures run from 1760 This group, unique in the world, illustrates Venice at the time of its splendor, its opulent festivals and its regattas on the bottom of lagoon or Grand Canal. One of his vedute draws particularly the draft Andrea Palladio for the second bridge over the Rialto.

The room also houses copies of the most famous English portrait painters, such as Thomas Lawrence and Thomas Gainsborough. Joseph Mallord William Turner (Quillebeuf, The Shipwreck), with marine motifs and precedes the last rooms of the museum where is exhibited the art of xix th century. Very sensitive to nature, Gulbenkian collected the paintings of the School of Barbizon, with works by Jean-Baptiste Corot, Jean-François Millet, Stanislas Lépine, Théodore Rousseau, Charles-François Daubignyand Henri Fantin-Latour. The Impressionist movement is represented by works by Eugène Boudin, Edouard Manet (The Bubble of Soap), Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet or Edgar Degas (Self Portrait).

We can also mention the pre – Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones with The Mirror of Venus (1871)

In the Gulbenkian collection, the artistic vision of the xix th century is highlighted by the presentation of sculptures by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Antoine-Louis Barye, Jules Dalou, Auguste Rodin.

Calouste Gulbenkian Museum
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation was created in 1956 by the last will and testament of Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, a philanthropist of Armenian origin who lived in Lisbon between 1942 and the year of his death, 1955.

Established in perpetuity, the Foundation’s main purpose is to improve the quality of life through art, charity, science and education. The Foundation directs its activities from its headquarters in Lisbon and its delegations in Paris and London, with support provided by Portugal in Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP) and East Timor, as well as in countries with Armenian Communities.

The Foundation has a museum, which houses the Founder’s private collection, alongside a collection of modern and contemporary art; an orchestra and a choir; an art library and archive; a scientific research institute; and a garden, in a central area of the city of Lisbon, where educational activities also take place.

In conjunction with cultural activities, the Foundation fulfils its mission through innovative programmes that develop pilot projects and support, by providing scholarships and grants for other institutions and social organisations.

Founder’s Collection
The building that houses the Founder’s Collection was designed by the architects Ruy Jervis d’Athouguia, Pedro Cid and Alberto Pessoa (1969) to accommodate around six thousand pieces amassed by Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian. It is located in the north of the Gulbenkian garden.

The galleries of this building are home to displays of around a thousand pieces divided into groups corresponding to Egyptian art, Greco-Roman art, Mesopotamia, the Islamic Orient, Armenia, the Far East and, where Western art is concerned, sculpture, the art of the book, painting, eighteenth-century French decorative arts, and works by René Lalique. The collection of works by René Lalique, which Calouste Gulbenkian purchased directly from the artist, is considered to be unique in the world for its quality and quantity.