Jean Guiffrey

Jean Guiffrey’s father was the art historian and archivist Jules Guiffrey (1840-1918). Jean attended the École du Louvre and, after graduating in 1892, joined the Musée du Louvre as assistant curator in the paintings department. He was a member of the executive committee of the Société de l’histoire de l’art français (Society for the History of French Art), treasurer of the French committee for the Turin World’s Fair, secretary general for the French Decorative Arts Exhibition in Copenhagen, secretary of the Société d’encouragement à l’art et à l’industrie (Society for the Promotion of Art and Industry), and president of the Société de reproduction des dessins de Maîtres (Society for the reproduction of drawings of the masters).

In 1911, the French government agreed to have him move to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for three years as curator of paintings. Upon his return, he volunteered for the army at the start of World War I. There, he served as commander of the photographic section of the Oriental Army in Thessaloniki. He was then sent on a mission to the United States, where in 1918 he was a department head at the High Commission in Washington.

After the end of World War I, he was appointed curator of the paintings department of the Louvre. He retained this position until 1934. He was in charge of the first eight volumes of the Inventaire général des dessins du Musée du Louvre et du Musée de Versailles (General Inventory of Drawings of the Musée du Louvre and the Musée de Versailles). His specialties were French primitives and French eighteenth-century painting. He was appointed Knight in 1920 and Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1927, and an Officer of the Order of Oranje-Nassau in the Netherlands in 1927.