Resumen de Der Kaufmann als Sammler. Louis Gabriel Blanchets Allegorie der Bildhauerkunst in einem Basler Bürgerpalais
A study of the patronage of Lukas and Jakob Sarasin of Basel, Switzerland. From 1763, these merchant brothers commissioned the construction of the so-called Blue and White houses, which were to display a princely, or at least aristocratic, interior. An important source for a reconstruction of the interior is the account book kept by the elder brother Lukas between 1761 and 1775. The choice of the works purchased, their provenance, and their price reveal something about the self-conception of the “silk gentleman” in the reformed Basel of the ancien régime. An example is offered by a large painting of the allegory of sculpture, which hung over the entrance to the dining room on the first floor of the Blue house. The writer describes this work, examines its provenance, attributes it to French artist Louis Gabriel Blanchet, and identifies its preparatory sketch and its pendants in various collections.
