PARIS—When the Paris antiquaires Nicolas and Alexis Kugel produce an exhibition in their lavish Left Bank gallery at Biennale time, it’s always extraordinaire. The aficionados who cross the Seine for this year’s nonselling Kugel display won’t be disappointed. “The Bronzes of the Prince of Liechtenstein, Masterpieces from the Renaissance to the Baroque,” which runs from September 10 through November 7, presents what is quite simply “the best and most important private collection of sculptures in the world,” according to Nicolas. This is the first time it has been shown in France. The Liechtenstein dynasty’s founder, Prince Karl I (1569–1627), initiated his family’s 400-year-long tradition of connoisseurship. Exceptional pieces on view include Giovanni Francesco Susini?s David Holding the Head of Goliath, which Karl I’s son, Prince Karl Eusebius, scooped up on a visit to Florence in 1636; the 17th-century Equestrian Figure of Ferdinand I de’ Medicis, one of the rare works signed by Jean de Boulogne, acquired by Prince Joseph Wenzel in about 1750; and the trove’s oldest statue, a bronze figure with a shield, circa 1473, by Lorenzo the Magnificent?s sculptor, Bertoldo di Giovanni. Reigning prince Hans-Adam II has contributed a dozen pieces to the exhibition, including Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi?s Diane and Callisto, Judgment of Paris, 1695–1700, which his ancestor Prince Johann Adam Andreas I turned down in 1703 when the sculptor offered it to him. The Kugels hope to stimulate today’s connoisseurs to perform similar collecting feats—their trove of for-sale pieces, after all, is a mere flight of stairs away on the town house’s two upper floors.

"Royal Collection" originally appeared in the September 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's September 2008 Table of Contents.