The Rothschilds of the East | Jewish Quarter Paris

After taking refuge in the Ottoman Empire for a long period, the Camondos will develop their bank, and open a branch of the bank in Paris at the end of the Second Empire, in the id eighteen hundreds.

In the 19th century, Count Moïse de Camondo started an exceptional collection of eighteenth-century furniture, which he bequeathed to the French nation. He discovered a period o French art of extreme refinement. You can discover one of the most beautiful collection of furniture originally owned by king Louis XVI and queen Marie Antoinette, and others, and made by the most talented cabinet makers of their times today in the museum of Nissim de Camondo. The museum was called after Moïse’s son, Nissim. It is today housed in a beautiful private mansion, where the Camondo family used to live.

 

Moïse de Camondo’s will

“Wishing to perpetuate the memory of my father, Count Nissim de Camondo and that of my unfortunate son, flight-lieutenant Nissim de Camondo, killed in air combat on September 5th 1917, I hereby bequeath to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs my mansion such as it will be at my death. My mansion will henceforth be named after my son Nissim de Camondo, to whom this mansion and its collection were destined. My aim in bequeathing my mansion and the collections it contains to the State is to integrally preserve the oeuvre I have endeavoured to achieve, to recreate and eighteenth-century artistic residence.”

 

Next door, lived Isaac de Camondo, the cousin of Moïse.

Isaac admired the work of the great artists and painters of the 19th century. He made his name as an art collector. He started an eclectic collection of art. Some of the most famous pieces of his collection were paintings of Cézanne, Monet, Manet, Degas and so on…

He was a founder member of the Société des Amis du Louvre and he bequeathed his collections to this museum after his death in 1911. They can be seen today in the Musée d’Orsay.

Claude Monet –  Le bassin aux nymphéas, harmonie rose  en 1900  huile sur toile 

1911, accepted by the State, as the bequeathed from Count Isaac de Camondo for the Louvre museum

 

To learn more about the Camondo family, you can book a guided Jewish tour of the Museum of Nissim de Camondo.

http://madparis.fr/en/museums/musee-nissim-de-camondo/the-camondo-family/

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