JACQUEMART-ANDRE MUSEUM – PARIS

I absolutely love the Jacquemart-André museum, which I have already talked about. The fact that it was an actual place of life before being turned into a museum always moves me in a special way.

Be it at the Frick Collection in New-York or at the Nissim de Camondo and Jacquemart-André museums in Paris, I admire the boundless will to make every room a near perfect decorum for social or private reasons.

In this case, I admire a couple from the second half of the 19^th century who managed to successfully combine the necessity of social appearances and a sincer passion for the fine arts. Édouard André and Nélie Jacquemart form an unusual couple.

First of all, they are a late couple: Édouard André is approaching fifty and Nélie Jacquemart forty.

They also are a disparate couple: Édouard André comes from a family of wealthy Protestant bankers and has been a member of Parliament, while Nélie Jacquemart, who comes from a modest Catholic background, is a painter recognized by the Official Salon who makes a living from her art.

It is through the arts that they meet. Nélie Jacquemart, who has already painted portraits of Victor Duruy and Adolphe Thiers, is commissioned by Édouard André to paint his portrait in 1872. In addition to his political and financial career, André is also an art collector and owner of the “Gazette des Beaux-Arts”.

Nine years after painting his portrait, and with no apparent connection between them, Nélie Jacquemart marries Édouard André.

The truth is, Édouard André is already quite ill. He contracted syphilis and his affair with a voracious mistress worries his family. Nélie Jacquemart, who has maintained a close and discreet friendship with Édouard André after his portrait was painted, seems the best match for the banker, whose family wants to avoid scandal and spoliation – it is rumored that Nélie is the adulterous daughter of Monsieur de Vatry, a friend of the André family. The only certainty is that Nélie Jacquemart and the notoriously sterile Madame de Vatry will always be strongly attached to each other, Madame de Vatry always protecting and encouraging the artist’s taste for the arts.

Although the marriage contract imposed by the André family provides for a separation of their assets, the couple soon joins their respective collections, expanding it year after year as they travel extensively in Europe, Egypt and Constantinople.

Nélie Jacquemart gives up painting to devote herself to her new social life, made of concerts and receptions which take place in their private mansion on Boulevard Haussmann, built by the architect Henri Parent.

On Édouard André’s death in 1894, Nélie Jacquemart unveils a will making her sole heir to her husband’s fortune. Édouard André’s family contests the will, but Nélie Jacquemart wins the case.

On her death in 1912, Nélie Jacquemart bequeathes her entire estate, consisting of the Paris mansion and the Chaalis Abbey estate, to the Institut de France.

April 15, 2016