Isaac de Camondo

Photograph of Comte Isaac de Camondo circa 1890

Count Isaac de Camondo (born 3 July 1851 in Istanbul; died 7 April 1911 in Paris) was a member of the House of Camondo, noted primarily as an art collector[1] with a noteworthy interest in the then "avant-garde" artists of the Impressionist[2] and Post-Impressionist movements. He bequeathed his collection to The Louvre in 1908,[3] for which a new suite of exhibition rooms was arranged on the second floor of the wing between the Pavillon Mollien and the Grande Galerie and opened in mid-1914.[4]: 281 

He inherited the principal role in the family's banking business in 1889,[5][6] but did not display interest in the bank's development and closed its Istanbul operations in 1894.[4]: 213  He was also a skilled amateur composer.[7]

A generous philanthropist who did not insist on giving his name to initiatives he sponsored, he was instrumental in the creation of the Société des amis du Louvre[4]: 272  and in the establishment of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées by Gabriel Astruc.[4]: 265 

  1. ^ Cézanne to Picasso edited by Rebecca A. Rabinow, Douglas W. Druick, and Maryline Assante di Panzillo
  2. ^ Jewish Icons by Richard I. Cohen, pg 191
  3. ^ André Salmon on French Modern Art by André Salmon
  4. ^ a b c d Nora Şeni; Sophie Le Tarnec (1997). Les Camondo, ou l'éclipse d'une fortune. Babel / Actes Sud.
  5. ^ International Banking 1870-1914 edited by Rondo Cameron William Rand, pg 426
  6. ^ The New Bibliopolis by Willa Z. Silverman, pg 208
  7. ^ The Monthly Musical Record, Volume 36, pg 104