Curators sometimes get a chance of  buying ‘undiscovered’ key-pieces, saving them from oblivion. Due to distinctiveness and a formidable eye for quality, this is now the case with a drawing by Jacques Louis David, bought by the Metropolitan Museum some weeks ago. It involves David’s worldfamous painting The Death of Socrates, from 1787, part of the Met’s collection since 1931.
A great new opportunity arose with the auction at Swann Galleries late January this year. Here, a drawing showing The Death of Socrates caught the attention of the team of curators from the department of drawings; Perrin Stein and Stijn Alsteens. According to them this lot catalogued as a 19th century reprise, was in fact a preliminary study that the master made for the original painting. Luckily the Metropolitan managed to buy the sheet without any resistance, and doing so united drawing and painting for the future.
With this important and historic purchase the collection was enriched with a masterpiece for only $840. A great story, showing that connoisseurship is highly valuable.
The Death of Socrates, 1787, Jacques Louis David, Metropolitan Museum