Antics dealers - Carré Rive Gauche
The Carré Rive Gauche is an area rich not only in works of art but also in historical places. Jean-Auguste Ingres had his studio on 17 quai Voltaire; Jacques Lacan practised psychoanalysis on 5 rue de Lille; the Younger Sons of Gascony, led by d'Artagnan lived on 17 rue du Bac; Serge Gainsbourg composed his music on 5 rue de Lille and Dominique Vivant Denon, first head of the Musée du Louvre, chose to settle in on 9 quai Voltaire. The antiquarians gradually left the right-hand bank of the Seine to come nearer this bohemian, aristocratic world where the wealth of ideas was in good harmony with all these pieces of art from all eras and specialities. The proximity with the Musée du Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs created strong bonds with the antique dealers and the great French and foreign museums. The Carré Rive Gauche has thereby become their favourite supplier: a tapestry was given to the MET, archaeological pieces to the Louvre, furniture and pieces of art to the Musée d'Orsay... the valuation competence of the Carré Rive Gauche's antiquarians is nowadays a reference to the artistic world. More than ever today, curators and great collectors might be seen hunting new pieces near the Rue de l'Université or the Rue de Beaune.