Musée des pastels Antoine Lécuyer

The Antoine-Lécuyer museum, in Saint-Quentin (Aisne), keeps the most important set in the world of pastels by Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704–1788), a native of the town. About a hundred works, largely bequeathed by the artist himself, rub shoulders there with portraits of members of the royal family and figures of the Enlightenment such as Voltaire or Rousseau.

The museum owes its name to the banker Antoine Lécuyer, who gave his townhouse in 1877 to show these pastels; it opened in 1886. It also presents French, Nordic and Italian painting from the 17th to the 20th century, sculptures and objets d'art, enriched by gifts including those of the Le Sérurier brothers.

Bombed during the First World War, the building was rebuilt from 1928 to 1932 by the architect Paul Bigot, in a French classical style inspired by the Pavillon de Hanovre in Paris. The very fragile pastels are shown in suitable lighting conditions.

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