PARIS.- On March 25, Christie's is proud to present at auction a group of thirty masterpieces from the collection of Arthur Georges Veil-Picard. Rarely exhibited, this collection—whose works are often known only through black-and-white reproductions—remains among the most mysterious and coveted. Featuring works by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Hubert Robert, Jean-Antoine Watteau, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, and Marie-Suzanne Roslin, the sale brings together the greatest names in 18th-century French painting and could, on its own, embody this golden age of art history in France. A true labor of love for the 18th century, the collection perfectly illustrates the joviality, sense of pleasure, and freedom so characteristic of the period. Estimated at €5 to €8 million, this exceptional ensemble represents a long-awaited event for collectors in search of masterpieces.

Pierre Etienne, Vice President of Christie's France and International Director of the Old Masters Department, and Hélène Rihal, Head of the Old Master and 19th-Century Drawings Department, note: “There are works one searches for over many years, desired even without having seen them. This is the case for these museum-quality pieces from the Veil-Picard collection, kept hidden within the family for decades. A heritage preserved with pride, which Christie's is honored to unveil to the public for the first time. The sale is also an opportunity to pay tribute to Arthur Georges Veil-Picard, who assembled this unique collection purely out of his love for drawing and painting and his taste for marvelous images.”

A benchmark collection: Banker and brilliant entrepreneur at the helm of the renowned Pernod distillery, Arthur Georges Veil-Picard began building his collection in the early 20th century. A free-spirited collector—almost self-taught, instinctive, and passionate about the 18th century—he gathered important treasures in his private mansion in the Plaine Monceau district of Paris. Over forty years, he created an ensemble that remains a reference worldwide, especially among museum curators and collectors of Old Master paintings and drawings. A discerning connoisseur, Veil-Picard also inherited a lineage of knowledgeable collectors and generous benefactors of Alsatian origin. The Louvre and the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie in Besançon, the family's hometown, benefited from this generosity on numerous occasions. Today, many works from the Veil-Picard collection are housed in the Louvre, Versailles, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Treasures of painting and drawing: Among Veil-Picard's favorite artists, Fragonard best reflects the collector's jovial character—he owned up to sixteen of his works, five of which are included in the sale. The centerpiece, The Happy Family, perfectly illustrates the “Fragonard style” (€1,500,000–2,000,000). Painted in the 1770s, after his Italian journey that liberated his manner, this work showcases Fragonard's lively, spontaneous brushwork. Its tender scene is enhanced by the voluptuousness of a deliberately playful composition. Of the various versions of the work, the one offered here is considered by scholars to be the first and most representative of Fragonard's palette. Two other versions remain in private collections, and a preparatory study is held at the André Malraux Museum in Le Havre.

Prestigious provenances: The same lightness is found in a delightful portrait, The Little Coquette, also known as The Peeping Girl (€400,000–600,000). This mischievous, tilted face offers the quintessence of Fragonard's art: a painting of pleasure and spontaneity. Beyond its aesthetic and expressive qualities, it boasts a prestigious provenance, having belonged to Hippolyte Walferdin, a great admirer of 18th-century art, and later to Count de Pourtalès—collectors among the most enlightened of their time, still celebrated today. A charming, large wash drawing, Woman with a Dove, also came from Walferdin's collection before being acquired by the Rothschild family (€200,000–300,000).

Interior scenes: Intimate, confidential scenes remain highly prized by lovers of 18th-century painting. Works by Hubert Robert, Madame Geoffrin's Luncheon and An Artist Presents a Portrait to Madame Geoffrin, perfectly exemplify this taste. Famous for her salon that gathered Enlightenment scholars and artists, Madame Geoffrin embodies the spirit of her century. These two paintings, depicting her in her drawing room and bedroom, brilliantly showcase Robert's talent for capturing the atmosphere of his time. They are also the last works commissioned by this celebrated patron (estimate on request).

Major rediscovery: Among the twenty drawings in the collection, a large sheet in red chalk and black stone by Antoine Watteau stands out as a major rediscovery in the artist's corpus. Illustrated in black and white in the 1996 catalogue raisonné of Watteau's drawings, it was described there as “from an inaccessible private collection.” Reminiscent of the celebrated Pierrot in the Louvre, this Actor Holding a Guitar Under His Arm has never been exhibited publicly (€600,000–800,000). A remarkable and joyful drawing by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin offers a vivid example of his talent as a chronicler of Parisian life. While female nudes were forbidden at the Academy, the artist depicts a painter and his model in the intimacy of the studio (The Private Academy, €150,000–200,000). A pastel by Marie-Suzanne Roslin, one of the rare female academicians of the Enlightenment, presents a delicate portrait of Madame Hubert Robert, née Anne-Gabrielle Soos (€70,000–100,000). Finally, in a more historical vein, the collection also includes two pairs of drawings dated 1783 by Jean-Michel Moreau, illustrating festivities held in honor of the Dauphin's birth by the royal couple at the Hôtel de Ville (€300,000–500,000) and at the Palais Royal (€70,000–100,000).