Musée George Sand acquires Carolus-Duran's Portrait of Émile Aucante
January 10 2025

Picture: Nicolas Nouvelet
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
La Tribune de l'Art has shared news that the Musée George Sand in La Châtre, France, has acquired Carolus-Duran's portrait of the publisher Émile Aucante (1822-1908). The work was pre-empted from Nicolas Nouvelet's auction last October for 5,850 EUR (inc. fees).
According to the auctioneer's catalogue note:
Émile Aucante was a publisher and journalist, godson and close collaborator of George Sand. He began his career as a fervent disciple of the theoretician Pierre Leroux, for whom he contributed to the Revue Sociale. Condemned to exile during the coup d'état of 1851, he was called by George Sand, who made him her secretary in Nohant, inheriting all her manuscripts and papers. He then negotiated all publications with publishers on her behalf. In 1858, following Orsini's attempt on the life of Emperor Napoleon III, Émile Aucante was arrested once again. Our painting shows him at the age of 38, in his period as a political opponent of the Second Empire. Under the Third Republic, he developed his publishing activities, directing L'Univers Illustré and then several collections at Calmann-Lévy, alongside his printing business.