The return in Angers of a painting may give basis to an international exhibition

Deux cents ans après avoir quitté Angers, L'Amour à l'espagnole, est officiellement revenu sur les terres de celui qui en avait pressenti la valeur, Pierre-Louis Eveillard de Livois, un collectionneur d'art angevin mort peu de temps après la Révolution française. Ce retour , fruit d'une petite révolution, l'union de fonds publics et privés ayant permis son acquisition et sa restauration, donne à la ville l'idée d'organiser en 2017 une exposition de dimension internationale sur la peinture française du 18ème siècle.

More than two hundred years after its departure from Angers, consequence of the Révolution française, a famous painting, L'Amour à l'espagnole, sold at auctions at Sotheby's, came back in the collections of the city fine arts museum. That return is the fruit of an union between Angers town hall and sponsors, companies, foundations and even individuals, pointed out, Christophe Béchu, mayor, who unveiled the new appereance of the painting after it was restored. "The painting was inaccessible for the finances of the city like Angers", reminded Mr. Béchu.


L'Amour à l'espagnole was bought at € 248 000 in december 2012 and among those, € 100 000 were
funded by 200 private initiatives. The painting was own b Pierre-Louis Eveillard, marquis of Livois, an Angers collector whose belongings were seized by the French revolutionnaries. The work, restored by three specialists, will join other pieces of the 18th century paintings collection signed by Watteau, Fragonard, Greuze or Chardin. It was painted by Jean-Baptiste Leprince, a pupil of Boucher. Angers city plans to organize an international exhibition in 2017 in cooperation with other French and foreign museums.