Old masters in the context of "Museo Soumaya"

André Derain (/dəˈræ̃/, French: [ɑ̃dʁe dəʁɛ̃]; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder, with Henri Matisse, of Fauvism. His paintings of 1905–1906 are characterized by riotous colourism in the Fauve style. By 1910, however, his work had become more austere as a result of his study of Cézanne and the old masters. After the First World War, Derain became one of the leaders of the new classicism in the arts known as the Return to Order.

The Faesch family, also spelled Fesch, is a prominent Swiss, French, Belgian, Corsican and Italian noble family, originally a patrician family of Basel. Known since the early 15th century, the family received a confirmation of nobility from the Holy Roman Emperor in 1563. It was continuously represented in the governing bodies of the city-republic of Basel for centuries, and three members served as Burgomasters, i.e. heads of state, namely Remigius Faesch (1541–1610), Johann Rudolf Faesch (1572–1659) and Johann Rudolf Faesch (1680–1762). The family was at times the richest family of Basel, and its rise was partially the result of clever marriage policies.

In the 18th century, the naval officer Franz Fesch (1711–1775) entered the service of the Republic of Genoa and established a branch in Corsica. Its most famous member, Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763–1839), was the uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte and was a member of the French imperial family during his nephew's rule. He became a French senator and a count in 1805, was elevated to sovereign princely rank in 1806, and was granted the title of a Prince of France in 1807, a dignity held only by himself, Napoleon's siblings, Joachim Murat and Eugène de Beauharnais. He was a member of the Imperial House and in the order of succession to the French imperial throne in accordance with the French constitution of 1804 (Title III, Article 9, "The Imperial Family"). He was also made a Peer of France in 1815, and subsequently given the title of (Roman) Prince by the Pope. The Fesch Palace in Ajaccio today houses the Musée Fesch, one of France's finest collections of old masters and one of the most important Napoleonic collections.