Antoine Béal, this painting enthusiast who donates his paintings

“Come in, come in!” But watch out for the paintings on the walls, as the vestibule is narrow. » This is how, last summer, Antoine Béal simply welcomed journalists into his apartment in the center of Paris. This 71-year-old honorary magistrate was then preparing to display his collection, mainly composed of French works from the 17th and 19th centuries, for an exhibition dedicated to him at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Orléans (Loiret). Around sixty paintings covering the walls even in the kitchen, thus forming the daily decor of this enthusiast who bought, at the age of 21, his first old drawing.

“I went to museums a lot with my parents,” he says. By admiring masterpieces, I trained my eye. I read catalogs and exchange ideas with my friends, collectors, art dealers or museum curators. » Antoine Béal is one of those art lovers who researches and shares the enthusiasm of their discoveries during auctions. “I don’t have a country house or a car. I use my savings to treat myself to paintings that I spot before they are too expensive. »

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His taste has evolved. Today, he knows what he really appreciates: “More than a specific period, I look for clear and balanced compositions, luminous colors, almost “porcelainized” characters because they are so well drawn…” The collector is particularly interested in little-known artistic movements such as Parisian atticism. Between 1635 and 1670, its representatives developed a rigorous classicism inspired by Raphael. In this vein, Antoine Béal acquired a magnificent painting by Jacques Stella in 2012: The Marriage of the Virgin .

At the same time, he felt a “real crush” on a work by Claudius Jacquand, Young Gaston, known as the angel of Foix and began to buy paintings in this so-called “troubadour” style which represented medieval scenes, fashionable from the 1820s to 1850s.

The generous collector has already offered – while retaining the enjoyment by usufruct – sixteen of his paintings to different French museums: Orléans, but also Amiens, Lille, Rennes, Lyon… and the Louvre. “I am happy to help fill in certain gaps in their history of painting,” he explains, delighted to enrich, in his own way, the public collections.