Apolline Lacroix Explained

Apolline Lacroix (née Biffe; 1805–1896) was a French actress who married Paul Lacroix, the curator of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris, on May 7, 1834. She also lived with Paul Lacroix's collaborator, art collector Théophile Thoré-Bürger, for more than a decade. Their affair only ended with his death in 1869.^[1]

On Thoré-Bürger's death, she inherited his valuable art collection, which included paintings by Vermeer and The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius that Thoré-Bürger had found in Brussels 200 years after its creation. Subsequently, much of the collection was sold off.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Notes and References

1. Charreire . Magali . 2016. Vermeer à l'Arsenal : la bibliothèque-musée de Paul Lacroix . Littératures . 75 . 75 . 45–56. fr. 10.4000/litteratures.668 . Vermeer at the Arsenal: Paul Lacroix's library-museum . free.
2. Jowell. Frances Suzman . 2003. Thoré-Bürger's Art Collection: "A Rather Unusual Gallery of Bric-à-Brac . Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art . 30 . 1/2 . 54 –119 (61, 68). 10.2307/3780951 . 3780951 .
3. Jowell . Frances Suzman . 2001. From Thoré to Bürger: The image of Dutch art before and after the Musées de la Hollande . Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum . 49. 1 . 43–60 . 40383198 .