Maria Prévot's work entered our collections at the end of 2022, when a young historian working for a Parisian antique dealer contacted us, "thinking that this painting might be of interest to an institution or a collector with a passion for Marcel Proust and his world. He was right to think so, as this acquisition project corresponds exactly to what we are looking for to enrich our collection. The deal, financed from the association's own funds, was therefore quickly concluded.

This brochure is intended to present this new work, through three texts. Jean-Yves Tadié evokes the person that this countess was and her relationship with Marcel Proust. Oriane Beaufils sketches the portrait of the mysterious Maria Prévot, placing the painting in a stylistic family that was then in vogue among artists. Finally, we are republishing the text that Proust published, under a pseudonym, in Le Figaro on 13 May 1904. In it he describes, with a mixture of irony and admiration, the salon held by this countess whose portrait will henceforth occupy a fine place on the walls of our museum.

Jérôme Bastianelli
President of the Société des amis de Marcel Proust
et les amis de Combray

Format: 14.8 x 21 cm
Number of pages : 44
Binding: Stapled back