Details

Name

Auguste Pellerin

Brief Biography

1853–1929, French

Occupation

Entrepreneur; art collector

Description

Auguste Pellerin was the owner of the French painting, 'Marie Colombier', by Edouard Manet, in Glasgow Museums.

An entrepreneur and art collector, Pellerin made his fortune in the manufacture of margarine, and was one of the most important collectors of art at the beginning of the 1900s, in particular of Manet and Cézanne.

His brands of margarine, 'Le Dansk' and 'Sundew' were a Europe-wide business phenomenon, with factories not just in France, but in Germany, Scandinavia and England. Setting up his English factory in 1891, at Northam in Southampton at a huge cost of £40,000, he lived for six months at Bartley Lodge in the New Forest. A hugely successful business, the Northam factory was in production until 1960.

Initially collecting porcelain and glass, Pellerin soon diversified into paintings, starting with the Barbizon School, with an emphasis on works by Corot. He later moved on to the Impressionist masters, focusing on Manet and buying many of his major works. Personally acquainted with contemporary French artists such as Cézanne and Matisse, for both of whom he sat, he acquired over 90 works by Manet and Cézanne alone.

On 2 February 1910, Pellerin sold 35 works by Manet to a consortium of dealers, including the Bernheim-Jeune, Durand-Ruel and Paul Cassirer, for one million francs. This proved to be a very controversial decision in France, as many of the works ended up in German museum collections.

More sales folllowed during his lifetime. Nevertheless, his family still inherited a substantial number of paintings, drawings and sculptures, attested by their gift of 14 of Cézanne's most important works to French state museums in 1982.