Many of his old master drawings, catalogued by Pierre-Jean Mariette, one of the four acknowledged expert connoisseurs in Paris, were dispersed at auction in Paris in 1741. That occasion was termed by Michael Jaffé as "the greatest public sale of drawings held in the "dix-huitième"." Most of Crozat's treasures were inherited by his nephews, Louis François (d. 1750), Joseph Antoine (d. 1750), and Louis Antoine (d. 1770), who added to the collection. The works of art were dispersed after the nephews' deaths. Louis Antoine Crozat's collection was bought in 1772, through Denis Diderot and Vasiliy Rudanovsky, by Catherine II of Russia and went to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.