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Origin and history

The Calvet Museum is the main museum of Avignon, located in the Hotel de Villeneuve-Martignan, an 18th century mansion classified as a historical monument. Its collections, known for their richness, cover archaeology, fine arts, decorative arts (goldsmithy, earthenware, porcelain, tapestry, ironwork) and ethnology. The museum was born from the legacy of Spirit Calvet in 1810, which offered his hometown a library, objects of natural history and an antique cabinet, with funds for their maintenance. An imperial decree of 1811 allowed Avignon to accept this legacy, thus forming the basis of the collections.

The Hôtel de Villeneuve-Martignan, built between 1734 and 1749 by Jacques-Ignace de Villeneuve, was designed by architects Thomas Lainée and Jean-Baptiste Franque. Ruined by the works, Villeneuve had to rent part of the building from 1753. Seized as a national property during the Revolution, the hotel was restored in 1801 before being purchased in 1802 by Joseph-Veran Deleutre, who rented it to the city to house Calvet's collections. It was finally acquired by the municipality in 1833 and became the Calvet Museum, inaugurated in 1835. The facades, restored between 1986 and 1991, retain their original appearance.

The museum's collections are enriched by donations (Esprit Requien, Noël Biret, Marcel Puech) and state deposits. In 1984, the museum separated from the municipal library, allowing a grouping of works in the Villeneuve-Martignan hotel. The Calvet Foundation, created according to the wishes of Spirit Calvet, manages a land heritage whose income still funds today scientific acquisitions and publications. The lapidary museum, dependent on the Calvet Museum, has been housed since the 1980s in the former Jesuit chapel.

The collections of the Calvet Museum include French paintings (XVth–XXth centuries), with works by Nicolas Mignard, Joseph Vernet, Horace Vernet, Chaim Soutine, and sculptures by Camille Claudel or James Pradier. Egyptian archaeology, from the legacy of Calvet and Marius Clément, presents sarcophagus, canopy vases and steles. The decorative arts include Flemish tapestries, rare furniture such as a painting cabinet by Frans Franken, and goldware objects. The museum also preserves drawings by major artists such as Watteau, Boucher, Cézanne and Rodin.

The Hôtel de Villeneuve-Martignan, masterpiece of Avignon's civil architecture, reflects the 18th-century fascist. Its entrance yard, once closed by a wooden door replaced in 1886 by a wrought iron gate of Noël Biret, leads to a pentagonal perron. The restored facades preserve the arms of Villeneuve-Martignan and their wife, Henriette-Victoire de Sade. The garden, mentioned by Stendhal in 1837, completes this remarkable ensemble, a witness to Avignon's artistic and heritage history.

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