The Musée Nissim de Camondo is a historic house museum of French decorative arts located in the Hôtel Moïse de Camondo at 63, rue de Monceau, on the edge of Parc Monceau in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. The nearest Paris Métro stops are Villiers and Monceau on Line 2.
The Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau describes the museum as housing "a spectacular collection of French decorative art from the second half of the 18th century. Admire Aubusson tapestries, canvases by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun or items that once belonged to Marie-Antoinette. Also on display, a collection of Sèvres porcelain and furniture by cabinetmakers Riesener and Oeben".[1]
The mansion was built from 1911 to 1914 for Count Moïse de Camondo, a French banker,[2] to display his collection of eighteenth-century French furniture and art objects. It was designed by architect René Sergent and patterned on the Petit Trianon at Versailles, but with modern conveniences. Upon the death of Moïse de Camondo in 1935, it was announced that both the house and its collections were bequeathed to Les Arts Décoratifs in honour of his son, Nissim de Camondo, who had been killed in action during World War I.[3] The house opened as a museum in 1936.
More tragedy followed a few years later when Moïse's daughter and her family were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.[4] [3] A plaque in the house states that Béatrice de Camondo, her ex-husband Léon Reinach, and their two children (Fanny and Bertrand) all died in the concentration camp. The Camondo family was a Sephardic Jewish clan. Moïse's widow Irène survived the Holocaust by escaping to a villa in the south of France.[5] Nevertheless, there are still living members of the Camondo family nowadays (descendants of Isaac Camondo, the founder of the bank).
Today, the house is maintained as if it were still a private home preserved in its original condition.[3] Three floors are open to visitors – the lower ground floor (kitchens), upper ground floor (formal rooms), first floor (private apartments), and gardens. Outbuildings are also included, which were built in 1863 and enlarged by Count Nissim Camondo; they were later modified by his son, Moïse.[6]
The house's furnishings include needlepoint chairs and work by artisans of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne (Royal Furniture Repository), such as Jean-François Oeben, Jean Henri Riesener, and Georges Jacob. Floors are furnished with Savonnerie carpets woven in 1678 for the Grande Galerie in the Louvre.
The walls are accented with tapestries (many Beauvais or Aubusson) and paintings, including portraits by Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun, landscapes by Guardi and Hubert Robert, and hunting scenes by Jean-Baptiste Oudry. Table settings are of particular interest, especially the Orloff silver dinner service commissioned by Catherine II of Russia from silversmith Jacques-Nicolas Roettiers in 1770, and the Buffon porcelain services made at Sèvres in the 1780s with a bird theme. Other notable objects include a bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, bas-reliefs, Chinese vases, and crystal chandeliers.
In February 2020, the museum was closed due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.[7] As of May 2022, the museum is open, after having been closed in February 2020 due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
The house was the location for filming some scenes for Lupin (TV series), standing in for the home of the fictional, wealthy Pellegrini family. Locations included in the television series include the "grounds outside the house, inside the house, and also on the roof".[8] [9]