Le printemps est arrive?

The last few days have been sunny and in the 50's! Everyone has been out sitting in the parks and enjoying the sun. Wednesday I wanted to take full advantage of the wonderful day and walked up to Parc Monceau. The park was originally developed by the Duke of Chartes in 1769 and half of it remains as a lovely meandering landscape and is not the formal, symmetrical style of French gardens. Witch hazels, crocus and berginia where in bloom! An interesting marker informs you that the first silk parachute drop happened there in 1797 when Andre-Jacques Garnerin jumped out of a hot air balloon. The whimsy of the French! The park is not far from the Arc de Triomphe and is in the 8th arrondissement.
I mentioned that the park is only half the size that it was originally. The other half was sold as building lots for the construction of large mansions.
Several of these mansions are museums and open for visiting. I visited the Musee Nissim de Camando, named for the son of the owner who was killed in WWI. Count de Camondo was from a banking family from Istanbul and an avid art collector. Following the death of his son, Count de Camondo gave the house and its contents to "Les Arts Decoratifs" of France and it is open as a museum. It overlooks Parc Monceau. The house was modeled on the Petite Trianon at Versailles and is full of wonderful paintings and 18th century furniture and furnishing. There is for example a set--hundreds of pieces--of Sevres porcelain decorated with birds displayed in a room walled with glass cabinets. de Camondo originally owned the Parc Monceau series painted by Monet which are now in the Musee d'Orsay.
The story here has a tragic ending--the de Camondo family was a Sephardic Jewish family that owned one of the largest banks in the Ottoman empire. The count's daughter Beatice, her husband and two children were deported to Auschwitz and the family perished. She made no attempts to leave France as she was French.

The other grand house that I visited was the wonderful Musee Jacquemart-Andre on Boulevard Haussmann, in the same area. Edouard Andre was a banker and Nelie Jacquemart was a portrait painter. He was an avid art collector and after their marriage (and yes she did paint his portrait before they were married!) they built this magnificent house for their art work. And for entertaining! The walls in the salon, an entry, which are carved oak, can be mechanically sent to the basement to open up the first floor as a large room. What a great idea! The salon has a loggia that is open from the first to second floor; the musicians for their soirees used to be installed there. It was said that the music floated down as if from the heavens--which by the way had Tintoretto frescoes adorning them!
The most magical part of the house was at the end of the salon--it was a winter-garden and this is where the two double spiraled staircases reached the loggia and the second floor. The winter-garden is two stories and has an opaque glass roof; it is sheathed in marble with marble benches and plants so that you get an outside feeling. But it is the staircase that is the wonder! The story is that the architect, Henri Parent lost the bid to design the Opera to Garnier. He designed the staircase to essentially show Garnier up as all of the same people who visited the Opera, came to this house. I have not yet seen the Opera, but I have seen the staircase!



(17 juin--I inadvertently took some photos while visiting with a friend and David before David reminded me of the "pas photos" sign! Why waste the pictures when I can share!)
The audio guides available at both of these houses were exceptionally good. For example, you could get more detail on furniture construction (which is quite specialized the joiners made the frames and the "ebenistes (think ebony) and marqueteurs" did the finish work, veneering, inlays, etc., the architects, etc. in addition to a description and explanation of each room. The guides also have glimpses into the lives of the owners.
These families collected not only for themselves and their personal surroundings, but for the French museums. As they had more money to spend than the museums, they often made purchases for the museums or refrained from bidding up the prices at art auctions where a museum as bidding. They were also called upon to fill in gaps in the museum collections and they did. Nelie Jacquemart and Edouard Andre were travelers, being away often 6 months of the year, and had extensive contacts in the all the art houses. One interesting example is manifested in the Italian Rooms that Nelie had installed. During the unification of Italy, many of the wealthy Italian nobility had to sell their extensive land holdings and houses. She purchased della Robbias, Donatellos, and other Renaissance and Venetian pieces --including architectural elements like doorways and ceilings.
It is places and days like this that make Paris such a wonderful place to be! Both of these houses and their stories can be googled for more information--and pictures of the interiors and surroundings.
And remember the parachute jump? Thursday morning, David and I had to go to the Prefecture de Police for our "Carte de Sejour"--card for staying and working here--on Ile de la Cite (the island in the Seine where Notre Dame is) we were leaving and walking over a bridge and a crowd was looking in the water-which by the way has a very strong current. There were divers in the water and a police rubber boat. The policemen were training and JUMPING off the bridge where we were standing! And by the way--doing back flips!
It's a wonderful sunny Friday morning and just perfect for a walk in some other direction!