Pahin De La Blancherie's commerical cabinet of curiosity (1779-87)

Although Pahin de la Blancherie's Salon de la Correspondance has attracted the attention of historians and art historians alike, its character as a commercial cabinet of curiosity has never been explored. Looking at the hostility that La Blancherie engendered among the arts authorities of his time, Auricchio suggests not only that his art exhibitions encroached on territory jealously guarded by France's Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, but also that his penchant for displaying oddities along with his incessant wheeling and dealing jeopardized the Academy's ennobled vision of fine arts.