Bonnard letter to Cathala regarding the Lucie Schloss estate

Note on the project to acquire part of the Schloss Collection for the Musées Nationaux.

On 21 September 1943, Abel Bonnard asserted to Pierre Cathala that the estate of Mrs. Schloss was being managed by the CGQJ which in February 1943 appointed a provisional administrator responsible in particular for liquidating the gallery, under the conditions set by the law of July 22, 1941.   The works selected for the Louvre have been estimated by experts at 18,975,000 francs, a figure approved by the curators of the Musées Nationaux (excluding expert fees). The autonomous budget of the RMN, which bears the cost of the acquisition expenses made for these establishments, does not have sufficient resources to make a purchase of this magnitude. It is essential for this operation of national interest to receive exceptional assistance from the State in the form of a special grant of 20 million francs. In Bonnard’s letter of September 21, 1943, a special procedure had been envisaged to rubber-stamp the purchase of the 49 paintings.