Abstract:
Title: The circulation of Byzantine objects in Paris during the Belle Époque: the example of the Froehner collection
French public collections today possess a certain number of Byzantine objects from former prestigious collections, often formed in Paris during the Belle Époque. That of Wilhelm Froehner, kept at the National Library of France, offers a good example, with its crosses and its glyptic, witnesses to the particular tastes of the collector, who was a privileged player in the Byzantine art market. Froehner was in fact an integral part of the world of Parisian collectors of Byzantine objects between 1870 and 1914 and offers a unique testimony on the mechanisms of the market for these objects on the Parisian market of the time. The Froehner collection thus constitutes an interesting entry point for understanding the supply of merchants and redrawing the routes of circulation of Byzantine objects around the Mediterranean during the Belle Époque.
Keywords: Froehner, glyptic, cross, Byzantine, art market, collector, antique dealer.