Émile Schuffenecker

A friend of Paul Gauguin and Odilon Redon, and one of the first collectors of works by Vincent van Gogh, Schuffenecker was instrumental in establishing The Volpini Exhibition, in 1889.

In the years to follow Émile was raised by his mother's sister, Anne Fauconnet Monnet, and her husband Pierre Cornu in Paris, educated by the Frères des Ecoles chrétiennes, and started work in his uncle's business, a chocolate and coffee-roasting facility in the Les Halles quarter.

By 1880, both Schuffenecker and Gauguin evidently had gained enough money to leave Bertin—just in time before the French Panama Canal project began to turn into a disaster—and to try to stand on their own feet: Both opted for a career in the arts, and probably for additional income at the stock exchange.

Then, in January 1882, the Paris Bourse crashed, and while Gauguin chose to remain independent, Schuffenecker decided to apply for the diploma to teach.

In 1869 he received a "first-class mention in design" as a pupil of Father Athanase, and from 1872 to 1881, he continued his training with Carolus-Duran, admittance to the annual Salon included.

In 1927, he himself frankly admitted to having "finished" the Large Tree at Montbriand, then in the collection of Maurice Gangnat, as well as other works by Paul Cézanne: a landscape from L'Estaque as well as a portrait of his wife, and a view of the pool at the Jas de Bouffan.

Jill-Elyse Grossvogel stated in the preface to her catalogue raisonné: "We can now confirm the fact, based on the most recent research, that Schuffenecker did no forgeries of Van Gogh's paintings prior to 1900.