Nélie Jacquemart was an artist and art collector whose love of art remains today and shared with everyone that visits the museums t
As a child, her family worked and lived with the wealthy Alphée & Rose de Vatry. Rose formed a special relationship with the young Nélie who had a talent for drawing. Armed with art supplies she started to draw, encouraged by Rose who was also able to enroll her into a workshop given by artist Léon Cogniet, one of the few artists to give lessons to women.
In no time, she got the attention of the art community in Paris and two years later she was displaying her paintings at an exhibition in Versailles and just after that she was appearing on the walls of the Salon of 1863 with the biggest artists of the time.
In 1872 Edouard André contacted Nélie to paint a portrait of the wealthy French banker who lived in the grand mansion on Boulevard Haussmann. Nine years after he first sat for Nélie, the two would meet again, and shortly after on June 29, 1881, the two would marry. Edouard was now 48 and in ill health due to syphilis and his family pushed for the marriage and convinced Nélie of the union. There wasn’t a lot of love there but they did get along well and both loved art. Edouard even had one of the large rooms transformed into a studio for her painting but as soon as they were married she put down her brushes and never picked them up again.
After his death in 1894, she continued to travel, adding to her personal gallery. On a 1902 voyage around the world when she got word that the Abbey de Chaalis, the former property of Rose de Vatry was for sale. Cutting the trip short and just before she was to leave for Japan she returned to Paris and purchased the former abbey.
For ten years Nélie enjoyed the abbey and filled it with her art and furniture and spent long periods there. On May 15, 1912, Nélie died and left both the mansion in Paris and the abbey to the Institut de France with very specific instructions on how her art was to be displayed.
On December 8. 1913, less than seven months after her death the Musée Jacquemart André in Paris and the Abbey de Chaalis were opened to the public, left exactly how she intended it.
More info and photos: https://www.claudinehemingway.com/paris-history-avec-a-hemingway-podcast-1
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