Abstract. Simon Horsin-Déon (1812-1882), art historian, painter,picture expert and dealer was one of the winners of the competition
for restorers held by the Louvre in 1848 and was also the first Frenchman to publish a treatise on restoration entitled De la
conservation et de la restauration des tableaux (1851), which proved more popular abroad than in his home country. Although
he was a qualified restaurateur des Musées imperiaux (“restorer for
imperial museums”), Horsin-Déon was seldom employed by the Louvre, probably because of the criticism that he had made, in his treatise and other writings, of the working method of Frédéric
Villot, curator of paintings at the Louvre. Nevertheless, in 1860,when the majority of French experts and journalists attacked Villot
for the way in which the museum’s paintings had been cleaned,Horsin-Déon sided with him, even if he did so above all to defend
restoration and restorers. His numerous publications about collecting, buying and selling paintings are very useful when attempting to reconstruct the history of the art market in France
around the mid-19th century.
