Regulars at the Jacquemart-André Museum are champing at the bit. This beautiful residence built in 1869, owned by the Institut de France, has remained closed for over a year. For its reopening, it is offering a trip to Italy from September 6 to January 5, 2025, with the presentation of 40 masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque art from the famous Borghese Gallery in Rome. We were able to discover the “new” museum and this exhibition in preview.
With the agreement of the Historic Monuments department, the courtyard, which was once covered in gravel, has been paved and planted to resemble its appearance at the beginning of the 20th century. Pierre Curie, the heritage curator in charge of the site since 2016, tells us that the gravel caused many falls and that, when transported under the soles of the 400 000 annual visitors to the museum, it damaged the floors. He also reveals the cost of the work: 6 and a half million euros.
The dining room has been completely restored. On the ceiling, the decoration painted by Giambattista Tiepolo has regained its lost splendor. The same metamorphosis for the smoking room, renovated from floor to ceiling. Pierre Curie tells us that it is the fall of a “piece of the ceiling” in this room that triggered the whole project. Woodwork, decorations, furniture, fireplace, hangings… everything has been redone, which makes the room much brighter than in the past. Just as spectacular, the restoration of the large double-flight staircase. The glass roof that overlooks it has been cleaned as well as the marble. The former winter garden of the house of Edouard André and his wife, Nélie Jacquemart, has regained its former glory.
Covered with a thick carpet in shades of green and gold, the monumental staircase leads to the first floor. Visitors will take it to discover the exhibition celebrating the reopening of the museum to the public. A beautiful setting for a unique collection in the world: that of the Borghese Gallery in Rome.
When you enter the first room, three portraits face you. The one of a young man with a languid air immediately catches your eye. He has a bare shoulder and is carrying a basket full of fruit and leaves. Pierre Conti, curator and commissioner of the exhibition, explains to us that this is an early work by the famous Caravaggio, “probably a retrospective self-portrait of the painter as a teenager“.
When he made it, Caravaggio was nearly 25 years old and working in the studio of the Cavalier d’Arpin, who was then the most famous Roman painter. Two of his paintings are also included in the exhibition. In this painting, painted around 1596, Caravaggio already demonstrates the extent of his talent and his modernity. He represents fruits and leaves as they are, with their imperfections, something new for the time. He rehabilitates the natural environment, its simple beauty in this still life.fascinating realism” according to Pierre Conti. The curator speaks of a “poeticization of reality, a way of approaching reality never seen before him“.
Forty canvases, many of them large-scale, and some sculptures by Bernini are brought together in a small space of 220 square meters. Francesca Cappelletti, director of the Borghese Gallery in Rome and curator of the exhibition, explains to us in perfect French how the selection was made.We have lent the most iconic ones, it–elle. We have given priority to masterpieces and wanted to give an idea of the original collection put together by the powerful Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V at the beginning of the 17th century. All the great masters and all the themes of the collection are represented.”
Built between 1607 and 1616, the sumptuous Roman villa of the “nipote”, the cardinal-nephew, is located on the small hill of Pincio in the heart of the eternal city. At the end of the 17th century, its collection brought together around 800 paintings. Enriched over time and acquired by the Italian State in 1902, it now has nearly 2 000 pieces.These are paintings that are rarely lent, explain Francesca Cappelletti. We are taking advantage of the renovation of certain rooms scheduled for autumn 2024, in particular the Pinacoteca, to let them travel.”
Among these treasures is The Lady and the Unicorn by Raphael, a Renaissance gem painted around 1506.A timeless beauty” according to Pierre Curie. “The pearl on her necklace and the unicorn are symbols of virginity. IIt could be a wedding or engagement painting, explains the curator. Raphael takes over the composition of The Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo Da Vinci a few years earlier. A young girl in a loggia framed by two columns with a landscape in the background.”
Hard to believe but this canvas was covered in repainting. Other motifs had been added at the end of the 17th century, masking Raphael’s work. It was a restoration in 1935 that allowed the canvas to be “cleaned” and the original subject to be rediscovered. In the small room of the Jacquemart-André museum, this painting radiates with its subtle light.
The last room of this exhibition is inspired by one of the rooms of the Villa Borghese which housed 44 representations of Venus. More or less erotic paintings, according to Pierre Conti, in the tradition of the Renaissance. Particularly striking is the very old (before 1517) and very famous copy of a lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci: Leda and the Swan.
A mythological theme celebrated by artists since Antiquity. The god Zeus takes the form of a beautiful bird to seduce the wife of the king of Sparta. From their union will be born several children. In this painting, Leda appears completely naked, her skin diaphanous. The swan surrounds her with its wing emphasizing the voluptuousness of her forms.
The exhibition opens a transalpine dialogue between two collections and two museum institutions. You have to take the time to appreciate each painting, each sculpture and then linger in the rooms of the beautiful Parisian mansion also covered with works of art.
Here is the epigraph that appeared at the entrance to the Villa Borghese at the beginning of the 17th century: “Go where you want, ask, look for what you like and leave when you want.“. In Paris as in Rome, one could not say it better.
“The masterpieces of the Borghese Gallery” – Jacquemart-André Museum – From September 6, 2024 to January 5, 2025 – Full price : 18 € – Reduced rate: €15 – Youth rate : 9,50 €
