People keep asking us to recommend the best places to visit in Paris.
It happened again at Jim Haynes' salon last week and I always go blank and get tongue-tied trying to answer. So I've decided to make a list which I will 'publish' at the end of June when we leave Paris.
Very high on that list will be the Musée Jacquemart-Andre, a grand mansion on Boulevard Haussmann in the 8th Arr.
Musee Jacquemart-Andre The website has much better photographs than I could hope to capture.
This mansion was the home of Edouard André, rich bachelor and art connoisseur and later his wife, Néile Jacquemart, portraitist. The mansion’s façade overlooks the boulevard but the entrance is at the rear. Visitors had to use a cobblestone ramp that slopes gradually upwards in a semi-circle from the street in order to arrive at the façade of the main courtyard. Their horse-drawn carriage would then leave by descending a symmetrical road on the other side. Which I believe meant no traffic jams at evening receptions!
The main public salon is sumptuous and includes walls like the one you can see here - it folds back and drops into the cellar - for one's bigger parties.
The panelling in the grand salon is exquisite - gold on pale blue. There are no paintings here as they would detract from the panels. There are, however exquisite busts and vases. And of course, flowers.
All of the seven public rooms face south, for the sun, and open onto a fabulous terrace that overlooks the boulevard. It must be difficult to protect the soft furnishings and paintings from the strong light - but they are managing well without being overly restrictive with visitors.
The second of the public reception rooms is a music room, seen here from the gallery above.
On the opening of his new home in 1876, a magazine article reported: “amazement at the enchanting ball given by Monsieur André. There is no more admirable setting. Nothing was lacking to make the ball one of those sensational events whose magnificence marks our era. The walls of the two entrance rooms, the cloakroom and the vestibule, disappeared under a scented curtain of violets and camellias. The gold decorations of the double ballroom flowed, sparkling under the blaze of a thousand candles."
The other end of the music room/ballroom leads onto the third public area, the winter-garden and staircase.
Of course, being a sucker for both plants and staircases, I find this area stunning.
As a collector and art-expert, Edouard André was asked by Napoleon III to participate in the Universal Exhibition of 1867, as organiser and lender in the fine arts section. He received a medal for his contribution. It was that fabulous art collection that he brought with him to this house 10 years later. The house was designed around the works of art it was to showcase.
The staircase was built by the architect who lost the bid to build the new Paris opera house, Opera Garnier. Obviously he had something to prove.
In 1872, Edouard André decided to sit for his portrait and called on a renowned young artist, who enjoyed a reputation as a successfully portraitist. Her name was Nélie Jacquemart. Nine years later they were married, and Nélie came to live at the mansion on Boulevard Haussmann.
In Nélie's private sitting room is the portrait she painted of Edouard, with her own portrait on the right.
Theirs was a marriage of convenience, entered into by two very different individuals: he was a Bonapartist Protestant, she a Catholic living in royalist circles. Their union turned out to be a genuine success and their shared attitudes and tastes made their thirteen years of life together very happy ones. Childless, they dedicated themselves completely to their joint work: this art collection which was left to the French state.
In the public exhibition space there was a show called 'Giotto to Caravaggio', which was what had prompted us to revisit. It was great but very crowded.
Musée Jacquemart-André is a superb building beautifully maintained and housing a jaw-dropping collection of paintings and furnishings, such as the Rembrandt above. If you find the Louvre overwhelming in its size and scope, this museum is very manageable.
And the audioguide is the best in Paris.
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