FREE PARIS MUSEUM: Musée Cognacq Jay in the Marais District.
COST: Free, except for temporary exhibit spaces.
OPEN DAILY, except Monday.
TIMING: Estimate 45 minutes to 1.5 hours for this experience
METRO: Saint-Paul
Where to lunch nearby:
Mariage Frères
Camille
Jaja
Le Loir dans la Théière
What to do after:
Sunny day = Place des Vosges
Rainy day = Shop Rue de Francs Bourgeois
The museum’s collection was formed between 1900–1925 by Théodore-Ernest Cognacq (1839–1928) and his wife Marie-Louise Jaÿ (1838–1925), founders of La Samaritaine department store. At his death, Cognacq gave the collection to the City of Paris. The collection is housed in the Hôtel Donon (c. 1575) in the Marais, displayed in twenty paneled rooms (four floors) in Louis XV and Louis XVI styles.
The museum contains:
An exceptional collection of fine art and decorative items, about 1200 items in total, with an emphasis on 18th century France, ranging from European and Chinese ceramics, jewels, and snuffboxes, to paintings by Louis-Léopold Boilly, François Boucher, Canaletto, Jean-Siméon Chardin, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Hubert Robert, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and Jean-Antoine Watteau.
Sculptures are by Jean-Antoine Houdon, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, and Jacques-François-Joseph Saly. The fine furniture is attributed to Jean-François Oeben and Roger Vandercruse Lacroix.
The 17th century is also represented, notably with two paintings by Rembrandt while 19th century is represented with works by Camille Corot, Paul Cézanne and also Edgar Degas.*
Enjoy, darlings!
*Part of this description was sourced via Wikipedia.
#paris #parisfrance #thisfrenchlife #parismuseum #parismaville #parismylove #18century #18thcentury #18thcenturyart #18thcenturyfashion #french #frenchartist #frenchantiques #frenchart #paristour #paristourism #paristourisme #parisvibes #parisienne #parisstyle #chateau #château #marais #maraisparis #lemarais