Musée Thomas-Henry

The Musée des beaux-arts Thomas Henry is a museum at Cherbourg-Octeville (Manche) with around 300 artworks, mainly paintings from the 15th to 19th centuries. It has been rated as the third most important collection in Normandy.[1]

The Salle Fouace in the Musée Thomas-Henry

History

It was formed after a series of anonymous donations to the city between 1831 and 1835, totalling 163 paintings and later revealed to have been made by Thomas Henry, town councillor and art critic[2] - having lost his two sons, he wanted to allow the city's young people to gain an education in art. These young people included Jean-François Millet, who copied paintings in the museum.[2]

In 1835, a museum was formed from these 163 paintings,[3] including works by Italian 'primitives' such as Fra Angelico (The Conversion of Saint Augustine) and Filippo Lippi (The Burial).[2] The foundational collection was completed by gifts from other inhabitants of Cherbourg, including capitaine Troude (1844), Armand Le Véel (a sculptor and curator of the museum) and the Ono family (who gave Millet's work in 1915). From 1965, the city decided to supplement private donations and state funding for acquisitions, in favor of the Millet fund.[3]

Initially housed in the Hôtel de ville, the museum re-opened in a dedicated cultural centre in 1983,[3] alongside the bibliothèque municipale Jacques-Prévert, on the site of the city's former grain Halles. It received 30,554 visitors in 2009, compared to 18,957 visitors in 2007.[4]

Collection

The museum's collection is wide-ranging and it has been nicknamed the 'little Louvre'. It notably includes a large number of paintings and sculptures by local artists. The most important works include:

Temporary exhibitions

The musée Thomas-Henry has held a biennial exhibition of comic art since 2000 :

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References
  1. « Musée des beaux-arts Thomas Henry Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine », www.ville-cherbourg.fr
  2. France Huser, « Le mécène de la Normandie », Le Nouvel Observateur n°2022, 6 August 2003
  3. "l'histoire du musée". Archived from the original on 2014-11-02. Retrieved 2014-10-25.
  4. Fréquentation des musées de France Archived 2008-12-03 at the Wayback Machine, Museostat 2009, Direction générale des Patrimoines, Département de la politique des publics, 2010

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