The great collection of Pierre-Jean Mariette is finally being published in five large volumes, introduced by an anastatic copy of the book that has allowed it to be reconstructed. In 1775, when the items in the collection belonging to Pierre-Jean Mariette came under the hammer at a seemingly endless auction, an immense collection of incalculable value was disintegrated - more than 9000 drawings, all marked with the Mariette monogram: pencil sketches by Salviati and Rubens, charcoal drawings by Watteau and others by French, Italian and Flemish artists ended up by being sucked into the rare magnum of private collectors. Today, a book kept at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston contains a description of the works that were auctioned, with illustrations of the items in the margin by Gabriel se Saint-Aubin (1624-1780). These drawings in the margins; rapidly executed pencil sketches, have been very important in reconstructing Mariette's huge collection, which dispersed into private and public hands. The anastatic copy of the book is now presented in its complete form, in a smaller refined edition, as an introduction to the broader-ranging work about Pierre-Jean Mariette's collection.
The five volumes of drawings by French, Italian, Dutch, German and Flemish artists will be presented to the public from April 2010.