Discover one of the finest 19th-century private mansions in Paris and its exceptional private collection: Botticelli, Mantegna, Rembrandt, Tiepolo. A museum of rare intimacy and quality, far from the crowds of the Louvre.
Visit: ~1.5 to 2 hours
With temporary exhibition: 2.5 hours
Café included: +30 min
Ideal: Weekday morning
Art: Italian Renaissance
Art: Flemish Baroque
Art: 18th-century French
Audio guide: Included in ticket
Entry: From €17
Audio guide: Included
Reduced rate: Available
Temporary exhibition: Included
Address: 158 Bd Haussmann
Arrondissement: 75008 Paris
Metro: Miromesnil (line 9)
Metro: Saint-Philippe-du-Roule (9)
Among the dozens of museums that Paris offers its visitors, the Musée Jacquemart-André occupies a quite unique place. Housed in a 19th-century private mansion of rare sumptuousness, this museum presents an exceptional private collection assembled by a pair of passionate collectors, Édouard André and Nélie Jacquemart, in the second half of the 19th century. Less frequented than the Louvre or the Musée d'Orsay, it offers a museum experience of an intimacy and coherence that the great encyclopedic museums often lack, and allows you to admire in ideal conditions absolute masterpieces of Italian, Flemish and French painting.
This museum is Paris's best-kept secret. Ask a Parisian to name their favourite museums, and you will often hear them mention Jacquemart-André with a gleam of pride in their eyes, as if sharing a treasure that few people know exists. It is this quality of discovery, this sensation of entering an exceptional space that belongs only to the initiated, that gives this extraordinary place its particular charm.
The story of the Musée Jacquemart-André is above all a human story, that of an extraordinary couple united by love of art and a rare artistic and intellectual complicity. Édouard André (1833–1894) was the son of one of Paris's great Protestant banking families, heir to a colossal fortune that allowed him to pursue his passion for the arts without constraint. An elegant and cultivated man of the world, he devoted a large part of his life and fortune to assembling one of the finest private collections of his era.
Nélie Jacquemart (1841–1912) was a quite exceptional woman for her time: a gifted portrait painter of great talent, she had been trained in the finest Parisian studios and had made a name for herself in the capital's artistic circles even before meeting Édouard André. Their union in 1881 was therefore far from the marriage of convenience common in bourgeois circles of the time — it was an alliance of two strong characters, two art lovers who were to pool their talents and their fortunes to realise the project of their lives: to assemble a collection and build a palace worthy of housing it.
Together, the couple undertook long and fruitful purchasing campaigns in Italy, Flanders and France, travelling through art galleries, auction rooms and studios across half of Europe to track down the most exceptional pieces. Their refined taste and deep knowledge of art history allowed them to identify masterpieces with remarkable sureness of judgement. Édouard André died in 1894 without seeing the museum project come to fruition; Nélie Jacquemart continued the shared work alone and, by her will, bequeathed the mansion and its collection to the Institut de France in 1912, with the wish that the whole be opened to the public as a museum.
The private mansion itself is already an object of contemplation and admiration. Built between 1869 and 1875 by architect Henri Parent, it represents the pinnacle of Second Empire luxury residential architecture, with its ornate facades, its grand monumental gateway and its glazed winter garden that in its day brought a touch of exoticism much appreciated by Parisian high society. The facade on Boulevard Haussmann, with its wrought-iron balconies and Corinthian pilasters, reflects the serene opulence of an era when the Parisian bourgeoisie competed in splendour with the old aristocracy.
The grand ceremonial staircase is one of the most spectacular spaces in the mansion. Executed in white marble, it rises to the piano nobile in a majestic double flight adorned with gilded ironwork of exquisite fineness. On the ceiling, a trompe-l'oeil fresco by Giambattista Tiepolo — relocated here by the André couple from a Venetian villa — depicts Henry III of France being honoured by the Republic of Venice, creating a striking effect of Baroque grandeur within this Haussmannian setting.
The couple's private apartments are fully preserved and can be visited: Édouard André's study with its library and collections of arms and armour, Nélie Jacquemart's boudoir with its portraits and travel souvenirs, the marble bathroom, the bedroom with its period hangings. This dimension of visiting an inhabited home, where you can still sense the presence of its owners, is one of the most moving experiences the museum offers.
The collection of the Musée Jacquemart-André is of a quality and coherence that commands the admiration of specialists worldwide. Rather than accumulating works from all periods and all schools, as the great encyclopedic museums do, Édouard André and Nélie Jacquemart chose to concentrate their acquisitions on a few great domains that they mastered perfectly and in which they could access the most exceptional works.
The jewel of the collection, and by far one of the most precious pieces in the entire museum, is the Florentine Quattrocento painting room. Here are gathered some absolute masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance that cannot be seen in any other French museum. Sandro Botticelli is represented by a Madonna and Child of grace and sweetness characteristic of the Florentine master. Andrea Mantegna, the great court painter of the Gonzagas of Mantua, is present with a Saint George of striking power and plastic precision. Paolo Uccello, the pioneer of geometric perspective, completes this ensemble with a jousting scene of extraordinary modernity.
These three masters of the Florentine Quattrocento, gathered in a single room of a Parisian museum, make the Musée Jacquemart-André one of the rare places in France where one can appreciate Italian Renaissance painting at its highest level, outside of Italy. This alone is sufficient reason to justify a visit.
The Flemish and Dutch collection is of comparable richness. Rembrandt van Rijn, the genius of chiaroscuro from Amsterdam, is represented by a masterly period portrait that perfectly illustrates his incomparable mastery of light and the psychology of the sitter. Anthony van Dyck, the aristocratic portrait painter who reigned over European court painting in the 17th century, contributes to this ensemble with portraits of characteristic elegance and distinction.
The mansion's salons are also adorned with important works from the 18th-century French school, notably by François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard, the two masters of French Rococo whose light and seductive compositions so perfectly characterise the spirit of Enlightenment France. These works are presented in their original context — the state apartments of a 19th-century private mansion — which gives them exceptional coherence and authenticity.
Giambattista Tiepolo, the greatest ceiling decorator of the 18th century, is represented by two exceptional ensembles. The grand staircase fresco, already mentioned, is one of the mansion's centrepieces. In the music salon, another Tiepolo fresco depicting Henry III of France is of impressive scope and technical mastery. These works, rare outside Italy, make the Musée Jacquemart-André one of the finest places in Europe to discover late Venetian Baroque.
The Jacquemart-André Café, installed in the magnificent dining room of the private mansion, is a Parisian institution in its own right. It is one of the most beautiful and most elegant cafes in Paris, with its ceiling paintings, hangings, gilding and period furniture that recreate the atmosphere of a meal in a 19th-century palace. The weekend brunches are particularly popular and absolutely deserve a reservation.
The menu offers refined and generous French cuisine, with brunch options including pastries, eggs cooked to order, charcuterie, cheeses and desserts. Afternoon teas are also very popular, with a selection of homemade cakes and petits fours that have made the establishment's reputation. Finishing your museum visit with a coffee or tea in this sumptuous room is a ritual that all regular visitors of the museum warmly recommend.
In addition to its permanent collection, the Musée Jacquemart-André offers each year several monographic or thematic temporary exhibitions, generally devoted to artists or periods related to the permanent collections. These exhibitions, carefully prepared and accompanied by fine catalogues, attract a large and loyal audience and are regularly praised by critics. They are a good reason to return to the museum regularly, even if you already know the permanent collection well.
The question naturally arises: why devote a visit to the Musée Jacquemart-André rather than the Louvre, which has an infinitely larger collection? The answer lies in two words: intimacy and coherence. The Louvre is the world's largest museum, with collections stretching over kilometres of corridors. It is impossible to visit in a single go, and most visitors leave exhausted and frustrated at having only skimmed the surface of its treasures.
The Musée Jacquemart-André, by contrast, can be visited in its entirety in half a day. Each room has its own identity, each work has been chosen with care and fits into a coherent ensemble. The audio guide included in the entry price is remarkably well-designed and narrates with talent the story of the André-Jacquemart couple and that of each work on display. And there are no queues, even in high season, which allows you to appreciate the works in a calm and serenity that the Louvre can never offer.
For an optimal visit, arrive at opening time (10am) on a weekday, when the museum is still quiet. Take the audio guide — it is included in the ticket price and makes a considerable difference to the understanding and appreciation of the works. Plan to finish your visit at the café, ideally between 12pm and 2pm for the lunch service. The Parc Monceau, one of Paris's most elegant gardens, is located ten minutes' walk away and makes a pleasant concluding stroll after the museum visit.
Book your tickets now and immerse yourself in the intimacy of an exceptional private collection
Book Your Tickets