"Musee Nissim de Camondo, legacy of a dilletante" Travelingmom's photos around Paris, France

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Entry from: Paris, France
Entry Title: "Musee Nissim de Camondo, legacy of a dilletante"

Entry:

"Musee de Nissim de Camondo Rob offered to take some time off this morning so we visited the Musee de Nissim Camondo, another one of those museums in 'hotels particuliers' in France that one never really gets to see on the tourist circuit. It really is fun to peek inside the lives of the upper crust of Paris at the turn of the 20th century, however it does pique me when I think about the life of such a dilletante whose life was devoid of real meaningul endeavor. The museum was the former home of Moise de Camondo, a banker of Turkish-Sephardic decent whose family had founded the most important bank in the Ottoman Empire. His grandfather was named a count by Victor Emmanuel as thanks for helping to fund the reunification of Italy. His father Nissim and uncle Abraham moved to Paris in 1869 and were known for their philanthropic work and banking prowess. Issac and Moise, sons of the two men followed their fathers into the family's banking business, although their banking efforts were mostly concerned with preserving their assets. As adults, Moise and his cousin Isaac established two homes facing the Parc Monceau in the 8th arrondisement. Isaac, who never married, was a devoted collector of Impressionist art as well as an avid collector of Japanese and 18th century decorative arts and furnishings. His house now houses Morgan Stanley's Paris office. Following Isaac's death in 1911, his hundreds of works, including some of the Louvre's most important impressionist paintings, by Degas, Sisley and Monet (he was friendly with Monet) et al., were donated to the Louvre under the condition that the paintings be shown together for 50 years. Today they are spread around different galleries at the Louvre, the Orsay and other state musuems. Moise followed in his brother's footsteps as a collector. His society wife (I assume an arranged marriage between banking families), Irene Cahan d'Anvers left him for one of his stablemen (another count no less) in 1891, but their two children, Nissim and Beatrice stayed behind with the father. Moise was a devoted horseman, hunter, and 'gentleman' whose banking was mostly concerned with the family's weath, and who otherwise spent most of his time on his hobbies. His greatest interest was collecting 18th century art. In 1913, he had his home on Parc Monceau rebuilt specifically to showcase his decorative arts collections. The updated plumbing, state of art elevator, intercom system and electricity make this home more unusual a museum than most in Paris, but the home is no less elegant and glorious to visit. After Moise's son Nissim was killed during WWI, Moise withdrew from society and the bank, spending the rest of his life refining his collection as a legacy to his son. The complete home and its contents were donated to the state and the Union of Decorative Arts following his death in 1934. In his legacy, he saw that 'maintaining the integrity of his residence would be conserving a glorious period in France with the most beautiful objects that could be collected for the period that he most loved (the 18th c.).' In typical 'old world' paternalistic fashion, his daughter Beatrice, an accomplished equestrian, and her issue, were not part of the patrimony of the house. Beatrice, her husband and daughter had lived in the Camondo home until their second child was born, but they moved to Neuilly, a posh suburb, in 1923. Ignoring the threat of the Nazis, they remained in France during the occupation, and were all deported to Drancy in 1942. All four of them perished at Auschwitz in 1945, effectively ending the Camondo line. An interesting aside--because we were curious what happened to Moise's ex-wife, I looked her up. She came from a well-known and very wealthy ..."
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Photos from this trip:
1. "Musee Nissim de Comondo"
2. "Servant's Quarters face the street"
3. "Not so far off the boat from Istanbul (Grandpa)"
4. "Entry"
5. "Main staircase"
6. "Prayerbooks"
7. "Le Grand Bureau (large office)"
8. "20 c. bathroom"
9. "Chambre"
10. "Bedroom"
11. "Silver Ceremonial Collection"
12. "Bibliotheque"
13. "Park Monceau"
14. "Dining Room"
15. "Dish Room"
16. "Salon Blue"
17. "Great Salon"
18. "Fish Vases and Barometer"
19. "Kitchen"
20. "Oven"
21. "Dining area set up for up to 16 servants"
22. "Irene Cahen d'Anvers by Renoir"

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