Together with the École du Louvre, the Etrillard Foundation has decided to support, via its endowment fund, original research devoted to the links and connections between arts of the past and arts of the present. The Etrillard Foundation’s patronage translates into the awarding of a scholarship to a postgraduate student during their three years of thesis work (2021-2024 ; 2024-2027). This project is at the heart of the Foundation’s mission, namely to build bridges between European tradition and culture and the contemporary world. The fruits of this doctoral research are showcased through the organization of summer courses given by the doctoral student to auditing students, as well as the publication of a scientific article in the Carnets de l’École du Louvre.
In parallel to funding this doctoral scholarship, the Etrillard Foundation also supports a ‘living allowance’ grant. This helps a student complete their undergraduate studies under conditions conducive to their success. By supporting this grant, the Foundation pursues its commitment to making art accessible to people in precarious situations.
In 2024, the second ‘Arts of the Past / Arts of the Present’ scholarship was awarded to Jérôme Papadopoulos, a Post-Master’s student researching art history, archaeology, and museology at the École du Louvre.
His thesis, entitled Les Nabis après les Nabis (The Nabis after the Nabis), continues the work begun during his master’s thesis at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) under the supervision of Denis Laoureux. His intention is to study the legacies of the Nabis from a socio-historical and formal angle after 1900, the accepted date of the group’s dissolution. This thesis is co-supervised by Claire Barbillon (director of the École du Louvre) and Léa Saint-Raymond (director of the Digital Humanities Observatory at ENS-PSL).
‘These questions [of Nabis legacies and sociability] had until now remained hypothetical in scientific literature, with the exception of Claire Barbillon’s work on the links between the Nabis and the Beuron Art School. It is one of many post-Nabis trends, with so many others yet to be studied. The value of this research, the desire for which was formulated as early as 1998 by Guy Cogeval in an interview but has remained unrealized until now, lies in understanding the history of the Nabis after the group’s dissolution: a decidedly transnational, social, and aesthetic history, whose legacy spans from the 20th century to the present day, thereby creating a dialogue between Arts of the Past / Arts of the Present,’ explains Jérôme Papadopoulos.
The first ‘Arts of the Past/Arts of the Present’ doctoral research scholarship from the Etrillard Foundation was awarded to Clara Lespessailles, a postgraduate student at the École du Louvre, selected by a jury composed of scientific figures from partner institutions.
Following her undergraduate degree at the École du Louvre with a specialization in ’19th – early 20th century Arts’, Clara Lespessailles defended a master’s research thesis on ‘The Centaur in the arts (19th-20th centuries): continuity or rupture?’. This initial research sparked a particular interest in the diachronic approach to the arts and in the phenomenon of aesthetic reception in the 19th century.
Currently a doctoral student at the École du Louvre and the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes under the direction of François-René Martin and Isabelle Saint-Martin, her thesis examines ‘Primitivisms among Ingres’ students, between 1830 and 1870′.
She explores the global stakes of the evolution of taste and cultural transfers in Europe, and more specifically the issues of reception and aesthetic appropriation of ancient painting movements by the chosen group of artists, in a political, social, and artistic context where the return to the past is established as a true program. This research work requires identifying the visual sources of the artists, from their provenance to their interpretation and usage, in order to understand the reasons for this revival of ancient art.
Hippolyte Flandrin, “Jesus Christ and the little children”, 1837, sketch, Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
Studying the corpus of works, given their quantity and their dissemination across Europe, has required a significant number of trips not only in France—within churches and museum institutions such as those in Montauban, Besançon, and Nantes—but also abroad (Munich, Bern, Neuchâtel…) due to the European expansion of the primitivist phenomenon. The study of the Nazarene painters in Germany or the Purists in Italy was necessary for a better re-contextualization and understanding of primitivism.
The first year prioritized the collection of primary sources, namely the exploration of archives, notably in Paris, the Île-de-France region, and other regions (artists’ notebooks, writings, diaries, and correspondence), to retrace the artists’ journeys and track down any elements of ancient sources likely to have played a role in the genesis of their works. Furthermore, a stay in Rome and Florence was indispensable for her to access bibliographic and archival sources within institutions such as the Villa Medici, the French School of Rome, and the Bibliotheca Hertziana.
In addition to encountering the works and studying the sources, these travels provided an opportunity to meet with professionals and researchers, offering occasions to open new perspectives and avenues to enrich the subject.
Parallel to this thesis, Clara Lespessailles is participating in an oral history project concerning pedagogical practices at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris (from 1960 to the present).
Finally, since 2020 she has been conducting practical work classes for the ’19th – early 20th century Arts’ specialty at the École du Louvre.