Musée d'Orsay, Paris
The Musée d'Orsay in Paris was originally a railway station - Gare d'Orsay - and then a hotel until December 1986 when it re-opened as a museum. During the 19th century the site of the future Orsay station was occupied by the Cavalry barracks and the Palais d'Orsay, built 1810 to 1838. The station was used as a set for several films, including Kafka's 'The Trial', famously adapted by Orson Welles.
'La Méridienne' by Vincent van Gogh
On a recent visit to the museum I came across 'La Méridienne', an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh and which I had never previously seen illustrated in any art book. The painting is outstandingly beautiful and to me is one of van Gogh's best works. 'La Méridienne' is also known as 'La Sieste (d'après Millet)'.
La Méridienne - Vincent van Gogh (1890)
I have a reference book entitled 'Vincent van Gogh' by J.B. de la Faille, first published in 1938 by the Hyperion Press in Paris and printed in Belgium, in which no mention is made of 'La Méridienne'. Ten years previously, de la Faille had published a catalogue of the work of Vincent van Gogh, which was then out of print.
He'd followed it up in 1930 with a publication entitled 'The Falsely Attributed Pictures by van Gogh' and stated "… there are many ill-willed persons whom one comes up against, many traps to be avoided, many tricks to be discovered. Even among those who have a reputation for honesty, there are many who do not hesitate to deceive the customs officers, tax assessors and authorities on pictures or antiques. They have no scruples."
In the 1938 preface of 'Vincent van Gogh' he says "This classified catalogue of van Gogh's work is now as complete as it is possible for such a work to be." Then he quotes M.W.Daubigny in 'The Garden of Daubigny': "We must remember that in the case of van Gogh the evidence necessary to authenticate the artist's work only became available long after his death, and even then it was incomplete. No exhibition of any importance of his work was held during his lifetime; nor was there any catalogue, for his brother Theo, who could have made a complete one, was ill at the time of his [van Gogh's] death and died six months later."
Related entry: Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
We have an original copy of the J.B. De La Faille L'Oeuvre De Vincent Van Gogh Catalogue Raisonne 1928 in very good condition.
Do we need to insure it and if so what value?
Many thanks,
John Kilgour
John, I'm sorry but I have no idea. All I can suggest is to get in touch with an expert second hand book dealer or perhaps search Google, Yahoo, and MSN Search for something like "value old books" or "dealers old books" (without the speechmarks).