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| Théodore Géricault Evening Landscape with Aqueduct 1818 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny Edge of a Wood ca. 1850 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art |
Regarding the lofty mission of the public art museum, Edmond de Goncourt wrote a note that was printed after his death in 1896. The following text appeared at the head of the sale catalog when the collections built up throughout his lifetime were dispersed –
"My wish is that my drawings, my prints, my curios, my books, the things that have been the happiness of my life, not suffer the cold tomb of the museum and the stupid gaze of the indifferent passerby: I ask that they all be dispersed under the auctioneer's hammer and that the pleasure each one of them afforded me be given again to those who inherit my tastes."
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| Antoine Félix Boisselier Gorges of Amalfi ca. 1811 oil on paper Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Jean Victor Bertin Classical Landscape with Figures 1803 oil on panel Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Léon Pallière View of the Garden at the Villa d'Este ca. 1814-17 oil on paper Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alexandre Desgoffe View of the Roman Campagna 19th century oil on paper Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Claude Monet Palm Trees at Bordighera 1884 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Jean-François Millet Haystacks : Autumn 1874 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Anonymous French painter Landscape 19th century oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alfred Sisley Road from Versailles to Louveciennes ca. 1879 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Gustave Courbet View of Ornans 1850s oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Camille Pissarro Poplars, Éragny 1895 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Auguste Renoir View of the Seacoast near Wargemont in Normandy 1880 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Georges Seurat View of the Seine 1882-83 oil on panel Metropolitan Museum of Art |