La collezione d’arte di Antoine Benoist

Antoine Benoist (Joigny 1632-Paris 1717), now remembered mainly for the wax portrait of Louis XIV conserved at Versailles, in his own time enjoyed widespread popularity thanks to his collection of life-sized wax figures representing members of the court of Maria Theresa of Spain, wife of Louis XIV. Benoist was appointed by the sovereign “son unique sculpteur en cire” and decorated with a noble title, as well as being admitted as a painter to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1681. Benoist also enjoyed a solid reputation as a connoisseur of painting, as is revealed by numerous inventories in which he is mentioned as a valuer, and he himself amassed a rich collection in part displayed in his own exhibition of waxes. The inventory, drawn up at his death in 1717, listed about 150 works, although omitted the names of the artists. This is not the case with the inventory drawn up in 1712 on the death of his first wife Antoinette Oudaille, which includes the artists’ names. The 1712 inventory is transcribed for the first time in the present article. This allows us to appreciate the importance of the collection, which boasted seven works attributed to Poussin, and to identify some of the works owned by Benoist, whose main nucleus consisted of Italian paintings. A comparative analysis of the entries of the two inventories and the emerging discrepancies also reveals that the artist practised unofficially – since it was disapproved by the Académie – as an art dealer.