The Orléans Collection

An actor, a composer, a painter, an engraver, and—you must agree—appropriate namesake for the endlessly artsy city of New Orleans, the Duke of Orléans, Philippe II, will posthumously have his artistic sensibilities fêted at the New Orleans Museum of Art. (Don't worry, he got a few courtly compliments here and there during his lifetime as well.) The Orléans Collection comprised 772 paintings at the time of the duke's death in 1723, and its sale and dispersal in the 1790s, during the by-all-accounts tumultuous French Revolution, helped found Europe's first public museums, including the National Gallery of London. For the first time, a selection will be reunited from the NGL, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the National Gallery of Scotland, in celebration of New Orleans' tricentennial. Look for four guiding themes: the transformation of the duke's home, the Palais Royal, into a center for arts and exchange; the public and private display of the collection; its fame and impact; and the duke's personality as it weaves through the works he chose. On view until January 27, 2019. noma.org.