Bordeaux's Musée des Beaux-Arts: The Lacour Wing's Renaissance to 18th-Century Treasures

The Musée des Beaux-Arts Bordeaux, founded in 1801 under painter Pierre Lacour, is the city's oldest museum and one of France's most significant galleries outside Paris. Located in the Palais Rohan, it comprises two wings: the Lacour Wing (south) and the Bonheur Wing (north). The Lacour Wing's permanent collection spans Renaissance to 18th-century European painting and sculpture. Highlights include Pierre Lacour's 1804-1806 panoramic view of the Chartrons and Bacalan port district, featuring his daughter and self-portrait; Aubin Vouet's Caravaggio-influenced "David Holding Goliath's Head" (c. 1620); Jan van Goyen's allegorical "The Oak Struck by Lightning" (1638), which includes a self-portrait and critiques palmistry; and François-André Vincent's "The Ploughing Lesson" (1798), commissioned by industrialist François-Bernard Boyer-Fonfrède to promote agricultural education post-Revolution. The museum also displays works by Titian, Peter Paul Rubens, Jean-Baptiste Chardin, Eugène Delacroix, and Odilon Redon. The painting was acquired by the museum in 1830.