THE MUSÉE
Eugène
Delacroix Arlette Sérullaz
honorary director of the Musée National Eugène-Delacroix
Dominique de Font-Réaulx
director of the Musée National Eugène-Delacroix
ontents 4 From studio to museum 10 A place of memory: a tour of the apartment and studio 20 A museum, the collections 36 The man and the artist 42 Chronology 48 The Society of Friends of Eugène Delacroix 50 Delacroix in Paris
The history and a guided tour of the home and studio on Rue de Furstenberg where Eugène Delacroix spent his final years, which is now a national museum.
rom studio to
museum
The Musée National Eugène Delacroix is housed in the painter’s last apartment and studio. Delacroix moved to 6 Rue de Furstenberg on 28 December 1857, leaving behind his studio on Rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette that he had rented since 1844, as it was too far away from Saint-Sulpice church, where he was to have begun painting a chapel in 1847. The artist had been ill for several years and wanted to finish this work at all costs, but he was no longer able to make the long trip from the Right Bank every day. He was therefore happy to find, through his friend Étienne Haro (1827–1897), a restorer and paint dealer, a spacious and quiet apartment, between a courtyard and a garden, on the first floor of a building relatively close to Saint-Sulpice, part of the former outbuildings of the abbatial palace of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Delacroix’s studio, now an exhibition space.
- 4-
Eugène Delacroix, Roméo et Juliette devant le tombeau des Capulet (Romeo and Juliet at the Tomb of the Capulets), c. 1850. Oil on paper mounted on canvas, 35.2 × 26.5 cm. Purchased 2008.
“
After starting his apartment search in early 1857, by mid-March Haro believed that he had found the ideal place. However, it took him over a month to conclude the matter – far removed from his usual activities – which Delacroix entrusted to him. It is clear that Haro had to use all his persuasive powers to convince the building manager, M. Hurel, to negotiate a lease that included clauses particularly advantageous for the future tenant. Haro also obtained guarantees that the stairway in the “middle of the courtyard” would be reserved for Delacroix’s exclusive use. As it was, members of the board of the Société des Conférences de la Ville de Paris Saint-Vincent-de-Paul – founded in 1833 by Frédéric Ozanam, who had occupied the adjoining apartment since 1854 – had been granted a concession to use it. Concerned that Delacroix might not be alone in coveting the apartment, Haro, in hope of convincing the artist, gave him a detailed account of his conversations with the building manager, stressing the fact that the funds required were more than offset by the apartment’s undeniable advantages. As soon as the main conditions had been granted, Haro took it upon himself to set up an appointment, and overcome Delacroix’s procrastination; Haro called on one of his strongest allies, Jenny Le Guillou, the artist’s devoted housekeeper who had started working for him around 1835 (see p. 18): “A thousand compliments, please, for Madame Jenny. I think this will be paradise on earth for her!” By mid-April, Delacroix received word that he had been granted a fifteen-year lease, with permission to build a studio in the garden, provided he submit the plans for approval. In the case of Delacroix dying before the end of the lease, the owners reserved the right to demand “restoration [of the place] to its original state”. The possibility of obtaining vehicle access to the courtyard was unfortunately out of the question, given the type of paving “made specifically to prevent leaks in the cellar below”. But as Hurel told the artist: “When you look at it, there are only a few steps through the courtyard, as the carriage entrance is covered by an archway.”
I think I shall be very happy here. The rooms are much larger than in my old apartment, which I really like. I don’t hear any noise, another major asset for a man who spends a lot of time at home.
”
“My apartment is decidedly charming” Starting in May, the painter was completely taken up by the work, as evidenced by his diary and correspondence, which dragged out despite Haro’s efforts to speed the building, supervised by Jules Laroche, architect for the Corbeil district. Delacroix travelled several times between Champrosay –where he had rented a house by the year on the edge of the forest of Sénart – and Paris. The work was slow to start, and proved more complicated than initially planned. “The contractors are diabolical,” Delacroix noted in his diary on 2 June 1857. “Some won’t work together; others are indolent or too expensive.” On 26 October the artist confided his fears to his cousin and close friend, Joséphine de Forget: “A racing carriage to my apartment to put pressure on my workers and a walk down muddy footpaths, this is my recourse ... The phantom of the move that will become a reality now looms before me. You understand just how complicated this is for me because of my paintings and my drawings.” On 26 November he wrote in his diary that he had stopped by his new “home”, adding: “As I climb my hill, with the north wind in my face, I feel that this is a more dangerous trial than crossing the river.” On 29 November he urged Haro to start moving the Rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette studio. By 20 December this studio was “entirely empty”. The artist moved around Christmas, from 24 to 28 December. With the disorientation of moving, on 28 December 1857 he confided to his diary: “Suddenly moved today ... My apartment is decidedly charming. I felt a bit rueful after dinner at being uprooted. I gradually became reconciled and went to bed delighted. Woke the next day to
- 6-
see the most gracious sun on the houses opposite my window. The view of my little garden and the cheerful appearance of my studio always make me happy.” On 2 January he wrote to Joséphine de Forget: “I think I shall be very happy here. The rooms are much larger than in my old apartment, which I really like. I don’t hear any noise, another major asset for a man who spends a lot of time at home.” The apartment, around 150 square metres, included an antechamber on the courtyard side that led to Jenny Le Guillou’s bedroom and the dining room, and on the garden side, the sitting room and Delacroix’s bedroom. A little room off the staircase leading to the studio was used as a library. A small corridor led to the pantry and the kitchen, overlooking the courtyard. The painter also had two rooms on the top floor for his servants, as well as a cellar. The present apartment, where the museum is installed, maintains this layout.
Delacroix’s apartment: the sitting room, now an exhibition space.
- 7-
The studio saved from demolition
“
After Delacroix’s death on 13 August 1863, the Société Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, whose membership had grown considerably, was allowed to rent the painter’s apartment and studio. They were still occupying the premises when Charles Ernest Georges Panckoucke inherited the building in 1914. With little notice, he terminated their lease in 1928, three years before it was to expire. Hearing rumours that Panckoucke was planning to tear down Delacroix’s studio to build a garage, members of the association Sauvegarde de l’Art Français tried to have the studio and garden listed as historic monuments, to prevent such destruction – the classification became effective in 1991. However by the late 1920s, at the instigation of the painter Maurice Denis, and with the support of friends and admirers of Delacroix, the Society of Friends of Eugène Delacroix was formed. The Society managed to not only change Panckoucke’s mind, but also to lease the studio. Unable to pay the rent on the studio beyond the first half of 1931, it requested assistance from the City of Paris to cover the rent of the studio and the apartment, as well as some urgent maintenance projects. In subsequent years, thanks to the generosity of certain members, almost every year the Society was able to organize an exhibition in the painter’s studio, so drawing t attention to the site. In 1946 Charles Panckoucke died without any direct descendants and his will worried the members of the Society. He named a sanatorium in the seaside town of Pen-Bron, opposite Le Croisic, as sole legatee. In return, the sanatorium was to construct an additional building that would be called the Pavillon Panckoucke. Although no deadline was stipulated for the construction of the building, the sanatorium found itself forced to put the real estate it had just inherited up for sale. After serious consideration it opted to auction off the property in separate lots. Determined to purchase the apartment, the studio and the garden, but unable to find the necessary capital, the Society of Friends of Eugène Delacroix then sold part of its collection to the French national museums. In 1954 the Society donated the site to the French government so that a museum could be created. Thanks to the tenacity of the Society’s members, Delacroix’s apartment and studio were at last definitively saved. In 1971 the Musée Eugène Delacroix became the Musée National Eugène Delacroix, under the direction of the Musées de France. With the purchase in 1992 of part of an apartment adjoining the rooms the painter had occupied, the museum acquired a new public area and an information room. In January 2004 the museum was attached to the Etablissement Public of the Musée du Louvre; thus this unique memorial has been linked to the richest collection of Eugène Delacroix’s paintings and drawings which is kept by the Louvre.
The view of my little garden and the cheerful appearance of my studio always make me happy.
”
-8-
Henri Fantin-Latour, Esquisse pour l’Hommage à Delacroix
(Sketch for Homage to Delacroix), 1863–64.
Oil on canvas, 25.5 × 26 cm. Gift of the Société des Amis du Musée Eugène Delacroix, 2008.
- 9-
In the intimate world of Delacroix: a haven of peace and inspiration in the heart of Paris.
memory:
place of of the apartment and
a tour
studio
The visit of the museum includes the three rooms of the apartment open to the public, the studio and the garden, which was renovated in 2012. The work scheduled for 2014 includes the expansion of the exhibition space by integrating Delacroix’s dining room in the tour. The layout of the rooms is still the same as in Delacroix’s time. The exhibited works are part of the museum’s permanent collection: paintings, drawings and engravings, letters and memorabilia, including objects that Delacroix brought back from Morocco. There are also several paintings from the Musée du Louvre on either temporary or permanent loan from the Department of Paintings, sculptures on permanent loan from the Department of Sculptures, and drawings from the Department of Prints and Drawings, exhibited on a rotating basis due to their fragility. The hanging of the works is changed several times a year in order to regularly exhibit the entire collection.
The antechamber In Delacroix’s time the antechamber was simply furnished, with an oak bench upholstered in green velvet, a round glass lantern and six copper coat hooks, and heated by an iron stove. Thanks to Philippe Burty’s report of a visit to Delacroix in 1861, we know that lithographs by and after Delacroix hung on the walls. Today, visitors are greeted by a plaster bust of the artist, a model by Jules Dalou (1838–1902) for the monument erected in the Luxembourg Gardens.
The sitting room
Jules Dalou, Buste d’Eugène Delacroix (Bust of Eugène Delacroix), 1889.
Patinated plaster, 81 × 87 × 41 cm. On loan from the Petit-Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris.
The inventory drawn up after Delacroix’s death listed the sitting room furnishings: “a mahogany writing table trimmed with bronze; a mahogany secretaire with marble top [probably the one that now stands between the two windows, although the marble is now missing]; a mahogany armchair upholstered with a flower-patterned wool damask; a set of rosewood furniture covered with rep, including a sofa, four armchairs and four chairs; a sofa upholstered with red fabric; a Voltaire armchair upholstered in rep; six imitation rosewood chairs; a drop-leaf mahogany table with a rep cloth; an upholstered chair with a blue seat; a lectern of Indian manufacture; an upholstered wooden chest; a mahogany screen and Louis-XIV-style clock; four faience vases; four Louis-XV-style gilt bronze candlesticks; a Bohemian and filigree glass chalice; a Chinese porcelain bottle mounted on gilt bronze; and a marble sculpture.” The windows were decorated with large garnet-coloured velvet curtains lined with wool damask, with a fringed gilt wood trim and muslin net curtains.
- 10-
Thales Fielding, Portrait d’Eugène Delacroix (Portrait of Eugène Delacroix), c. 1825.
Oil mounted on cardboard, 34.3 × 27.3 cm. Purchased, 2009.
The library During the artist’s lifetime the library was used as both a passage to the studio and as a visitors’ waiting room. It was furnished with a mahogany desk, a mahogany armchair upholstered in wool and eight cherrywood cane chairs. A Sèvres porcelain box stood on the desk. Nearby was a candlestick with a shade and a plaster bust of the musician Halévy. The room also had three cupboards: two contained linen while the third held four hundred bound volumes, as well as the complete collection of Magasin Pittoresque. A staircase from this room leads to the studio and the garden. In Delacroix’s time the entire length of this staircase was glassed in so that the painter could reach the studio without stepping outside, probably thanks to Joséphine de Forget, who was concerned that exposure to harsh winds would endanger the artist’s frail health. According to photographs of the period, the staircase remained covered until 1920, yet it was gone when President Lebrun came to inaugurate the first exhibition organized by the Society of Friends of Eugène Delacroix in the studio in 1932.
Palette and brushes that belonged to Delacroix, 19th century, wood. Gifts of Mme Claudie Léouzon-le-Duc to the Société des Amis d’Eugène Delacroix, 1948, gift of the Société des Amis du Musée Eugène Delacroix, 2002.
Painting table, 19th century, oak. Gift of Mme Pillaut to the Société des Amis d’Eugène Delacroix, 1948, gift of the Société des Amis du Musée Eugène Delacroix, 2002. Palette and brushes that belonged to Delacroix, 19th century, wood. Palette: on loan from the Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings.
- 12-
Eugène Delacroix, Portrait de Thales Fielding (Portrait of Thales Fielding), c. 1825. Oil on canvas, 32.3 × 24.8 cm. Purchased, 2009.