Atger Museum Collection

The Atger Museum is currently closed.

The collection

History of the collection

A thousand drawings and some five thousand prints, signed by some of the biggest names as well as lesser-known artists, make up the Musée Atger, Montpellier's oldest museum, nestled in the heart of the historic buildings of the Faculty of Medicine. Its unexpected presence in this location is the result of the generosity and determination of Montpellier collector Xavier Atger (1758-1833): it was he who donated the works of art he had passionately collected throughout his life to the "library of the School of Medicine" in successive deliveries between 1813 and 1832.
Housed in the former ceremonial rooms of the bishopric, decorated with plasterwork, on the first floor of the Faculty, the Atger collection is of great artistic interest. Given their quality, the museum's drawings have been described as the second most important collection in France after that of the Louvre.

Composition of the collection

The French school isbest represented, with several masterpieces such as the twelve drawings by J.H. Fragonard, whose portraits (Portrait of M. Bergeret, Le Postillon, etc.) are particularly indicative of his finesse and talent. Hubert Robert, M.L.E. Vigée-Lebrun, Oudry, and, for the^{17th century}, Charles Lebrun and Philippe de Champaigne, compose a rich and varied panorama.
The French collection is also characterized by the strong and deliberate presence of "several of our distinguished artists who were born in our southern cities": Sébastien Bourdon from Montpellier, Charles Natoire from Nîmes (of whom the museum owns 67 drawings), and Pierre Puget from Marseille are just a few examples.
Although not the most numerous (136 in total), the drawings from the Italian school are nevertheless among the most beautiful in the Atger Museum. The biggest names come together to form a prestigious collection. Le Guerchin, the Carracci, Andrea del Sarto, and Tintoretto are some of the most famous. But the jewel in the collection is undoubtedly the Venetian Giambattista Tiepolo; with its twenty-six drawings, the Atger Museum has the largest public collection of this artist's work in France. He displays exceptional verve and liveliness, which is enough to explain Atger's preference for drawing, an art form in which he saw "a warmth, energy, and expression" rarely matched in paintings, those "colored copies."

Finally, the Northern School brings together artists from Germany, Poland, Belgium, and Switzerland, but above all from Flanders and Holland. Notable examples include two sheets by Jan Brueghel (known as Brueghel the Younger), Christ in the Tomb and two portrait studies by Van Dyck, and of course Rubens, of whom the museum has two drawings on classical themes. Although slightly less numerous than those of the Italian School, the drawings of landscapes, portraits, animals, and mythological scenes from the Northern School are nonetheless of great finesse and remarkable artistic interest.
Added to this collection are prints, often preserved in voluminous albums, and some thirty paintings, the most striking of which is by Michel Serre, depicting an episode from the 1720 Plague of Marseille: the Quai de la Tourette.
Encouraged by Atger's donations, the faculty purchased a few paintings at the time. The collection was supplemented by other donors, notably the Montpellier painter Jacques Bestieu (1754-1842) and later Bonaventure Laurens (1801-1880). However, donations remained sporadic until 2005 and 2017, when artist Richarme (1904-1991) donated more than 80 drawings, figures, portraits, and landscapes.

Photo credits: University of Montpellier / SCDI Montpellier – photography department