The Paul Touzet Collection of Old Masters

Fifty years ago, the unerring judgment of Paul Touzet (1898-1981) made him one of the most highly sought-after specialists in the Parisian Old Masters market. It is worth retracing the trajectory of the expert's distinguished career. He began by opening a gallery on rue de l'Université in the interwar period but it was not until 1960 that he launched his expertise in the heart of Paris, then the world's leading art market. The 1970s were the golden age of auctions. The center of gravity shifted to the Left Bank between 1976 and 1981. The former Orsay railway station (today the D'Orsay Museum) housed the Drouot auction house group while the building on rue Drouot was torn down and rebuilt. The many sales in which Touzet participated took place first at the old Hôtel Drouot, then at Orsay, but also at the Palais Galliera, a traditional venue for blue-ribbon auctions, and more rarely at the Hôtel George V. Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761-1845), Portrait of Talma , canvas glued to an oval panel, 19 x 15 cm/7.48 x 5.90 in. Estimate: €4,000/6,000 A Predilection for the Northern European Schools During the 20 years before his death in 1981, Touzet worked with over 30 different appraisal firms in Paris. Two names come up repeatedly: Edmond Champetier de Ribes and Jean-Philippe Bondu. But the two that called upon his services the…